Robert W. Woodruff
Library
Gift of
Randall K. Burkett
EMORY UNIVERSITY
Special Collections & Archives
SERMONS
BY
REV. A.J. STOKES, D D., LL. D
DICATED TO THE TWELVE APOSTLES
JESUS CHRIST
PREFACE
I send forth to the world this little book of ser¬
mons dedicated to the twelve apostles of Jesus
Christ, namely, Peter, James, John, Philip, Thomas,
Bartholomew, Matthew, James, Simon, Judas and
Paul. I do this because these brothers fought the
battles of Jesus Christ in the world for many years,
and many of them, if not all, lost their lives in the
conflict; and then, too, it has been a long time since
any of our writers have complimented these brothers
directly. I expect soon to join them on the eternal
hills of Glory, and I hope these kind remembrances
of them and their work will greet me there with
smiles from them, with all others who may read
and digest these sermons.
Yours,
A. JACKSON STOKES.
INTRODUCTION.
Books are the crystallized expressions of what is
best or worst in men. The race has always longed
to write its experience for those who follow them.
God himself has dignified writing and books by
writing' a library for the enlightenment of the world
as to salvation. Books are also distinctive messages
•which men have for others: they are the EGO re¬
producing, or extending itself beyond its limited
field of action; great men, of all ages, have written
books. Of course, the fool also writes of his folly
for his fool crowd, and finds hearty acceptance and
patronage among them; but we are speaking of
books that count in the development of the world
along upward-moving lines. It is, therefore, a
great pleasure to indite these lines of introduction,
after a careful reading of the little book in which
these forewords are printed: "As man thinketh in
his heart, so is he," and so will he write. The little
book of sermons comes to the literary world from
the heart and mind of one of the race's greatest
men—a man who has travelled the road to success
in his chosen lines. He has "done things/' build¬
ing up a spiritual and educational plant that is little
short of the miraculous. As an organizer, orator,
editor, man of affairs and devoted friend, he rep¬
resents the best meanings of these words. To have
done these things, he must have thought seriously
and correctly. From a careful study of these ser¬
mons herewith submitted to the public will be
found the type and sample of thoughts that have
placed the writer 'so high upon the pinnacle, of
(3)
4
Dedicated to Jesus Christ.
eminence. If Dr. Stokes is not original, ^ he is
nothing. A peculiar characteristic of his mind is a
great independence of movement and daring. Hav¬
ing traveled, read, thought and prayed, he dares
to assert his own interpretation of any text that
he decides to preach. He goes through the world*
using and relying upon his own five senses and
judgment, yet not despising the conclusions of other
authorities. The young ministers will do well to
read and imitate him in this particular, for, while
truth is common property and universal) "expres¬
sion of truth is personal."
Another attribute that makes these sermons de¬
lightful is the evident spirituality that pervades
them; the writer seems to live in the other world
and comes across the line occasionally to bring to
us, of this world, a message of the things which he
has seen and heard. And, finally, as characteristic
of all truly great men, they are so simple, that "he
who runs may read'7 understandingly. May they
be read and digested by every preacher, and their
sublime message passed on to the countless millions
that are waiting for just such messages to make
them fit for nobler service and abundant entrance
into the heaven prepared for them, is the wish of
his, and the friend of every minister and believer
in Christ of Calvary, the empty tomb, and the glory-
erowned throne.
Very sincerely,
J. T. BROWN,
Miami, Fla., 214 Avenue H.
February 1!>. 1S)14.
A. J. STOKES
Who wrote and delivered these sermons, was born
in Orangeburge County, S. C., July 25, 1859. In
'69 he entered the ministry; in '71 he matriculated
at Clafton University and spent the whole or a part
of four years. In '78 he left there and went to
Benedict College, where, in '84, he graduated from
the college department. From '78 to '84 he was
editor of the South Carolina Baptist. In '85 he
was called to pastor the First Baptist Church,
Clarksville, Tenn., where he stayed six years and
edited the Progressive Signal.
In 1891 he was called to pastor the Second Bap¬
tist Church, of Fernandina, Fla. After spending
one year there, in '92 he \vas called to the First
Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala., where at this
writing he has spent twenty-two years, baptized
over 7,000 persons. At Montgomery he built a
$65,000 church and is President of the Montgomery
Institute, Editor Helping Hand and Treasurer of the
National Baptist Convention.
In 1885 he married Miss Essie Tucker, of Long-
town, S. C. From this union he has two children,
Miss Lue Rosa Stokes and Dr. II. Benton Stokes.
It is hoped by the writer that these few sermons
dedicated to the twelve apostles may go forth to
bless humanity everywhere.
Yours for the kingdom,
A. JACKSON STOKES.
CHAPTER I.
THE RESURRECTION
"Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again."
—John 11:23.
HIS conversation which is of infinite im¬
portance because of its comforting and
consoling purport took place between
the Saviour and the distressed girl, three-
quarters of a mile from the city of Jeru¬
salem, at Bethany, the home of the distressed young
woman. Doubtless, this little city had been the
refuge of the blessed Redeemer many a time in
the days of the parents of Lazarus, Mary and Mar¬
tha. The promptness with which the Lord respond¬
ed to the call of distress of the sisters of Lazarus
at the time of the latter's death indicates, I think,_
his past friendship with the family.
I would have you notice that every word of Jesus
Christ to Mary and Martha about Lazarus was a
word of everlasting comfort. Whe,n he was in¬
formed by the messenger of the death of Lazarus,
He declared, first, that those who are believers never
die, and, second, that with God there is no death
for the believer. He said, "Oar friend Lazarus
sleepeth;'' but I go that I may awake him. Not¬
withstanding the four da}rs' sleep of Lazarus, and
notwithstanding putrefaction had already set in
(7)
8
Dedicated to Jesus Christ.
and decay had begun, Jesus said, "'Our friend
Lazarus sleepeth."
Oh, my friends! Bethany may forget Caesar, it
may forget Filate, but Bethany, Bethpage and Je¬
rusalem will forget Jesus never. His deeds and
Avords in those cities are as lasting as the frame
works of heaven.
His medical skill was displayed in all of his
Savior-like power. When at the grave of Lazarus
he raised a look of faith to the skies, then he put
a salve of prayer on the silent heart of Lazarus,
and with a word of power of a God, as he Was, he
called back the departed soul of Lazarus from the
celestial world where it had been anited for four
days with the departed spirits of preceding years
in their celestial pomp of praise to Him who had
given them the victory over death, hell afad the
grave.
Yes, I think the ph}^sicians of today might come
with us to Bethany and learn a lesson of infinite
importance to them and those for whom they will
be called upon to prescribe. Before Christ com¬
manded the resurrection of Lazarus from the grave
lie prayed. We may learn by this that medicine
given, backed up by a fervent prayer and faith by
the physician who prescribed it, is more powerful
in its effects on the sick than the medicine pre¬
scribed without faith or prayer. We may learn
again from this text that no case is too hard for
Jesus.
Peter raised Dorcas and returned her to her
friends, but it will be remembered he raised her
immediately after her death. Elijah raised
(he Shunammite woman's son, but that, - too, was
immediately after the death of the- child. But
Jesus, heaven's practitioner, stayed away until he
knew that his bitterest enemy would be forced to
Jesus Christ and his Twelve Disciples.
and His Twelve Apostles. 9
admit that Lazarus was not only dead but that
putrefaction had set in.
Wheta he made the proposal to raise Lazarus
from the dead, his sister said: "By this time he
stinketh." But that was the memorable moment,
when all nature was silent, when earth and heaven
gazed upon the lifeless i'orm of Lazarus as it lay
there in that tomb, waiting in silence to hear the
omnipotent words of Jesus that were to put the
whole frame work of the dead body in motion
again, arteries pouring- forth blood, yes, fresh blood,
as it came from the heart aind veins performing
every function and with a heart beating seventy-
two times to the minute.
Oh blessed Redeemer! we call upon thee by faith,
we trust this morning, to come to this awful place
where sinners have been lying in their graves of
sinfulness, some of them for ten, some for thirty
and some for seventy years, waiting thy call.
Come, blessed Jesus. We, thy humble children, are
willing and ready to go with Thee to their graves
where they lay. That thou mayest call those our
friends and brothers from their graves of sin and
stupidity and make them the recipients of all
the fullness of Thy grace and heirs of all that
thou hast laid up in heaven for them that love and
serve Thee. We may learn also from the text, that
Jesus, the Savior of mankind, does not expect sin¬
ners, dead and lifeless, to come to him; but He con¬
descends to come to the sinners, if the sinners,
Christian fathers, mothers and sisters will only in¬
vite them.
Oh, do not forget, Christians, how determined
Mary and Martha were to have Him see their
brother, although he had been dead for days.
If there are those before me this morning who
are old and hardened in sin, let me advise you to
10
Dedicated to Jesus Christ.
have the Christ of Paul and Silas, the Christ of
Mary and Martha come and see your friends. I
assure you if you call Him in faith, believing in His
power there will be a resurrection of your friends
that were dead in sin long, long ago. You may
learn also from this text that there will be a final
resurrection of the frielids of Jesus. Yes, I may
be mistaken about some things in life. I may be
mistaken as to who is my rightful mother or whether
I have a right hand or not, but I am sure of the
final resurrection of the saints.
Dear brother, the gospel declares the trump shall
sound and the dead in Christ shall rise. We are
not only to be raised from the dead, but we are
to be raised in time, like Lazarus, to go in with
Christ to His own marriage supper. I know, friehds,
that there are those of us who have immensely en¬
joyed ourselves at entertainments with our friends,
but the marriage supper of the Lamb is to surpass
everything in the way of an entertainment that
humanity has ever heard of. God bless your soul,
the entertainment of the marriage supper of the
Lamb will surpass every other supper as to its cost.
Secondly, it will be a great supper, because it
has already been in preparation for more than sixty
centuries. Oh, how joyous it is to me when I think
and tell you that I shall only spend a few moments
in the grave, and then, like Lazarus, rise to see,
my Jesus and my friends. I would have you notice
again, that in the resurrection we will not only
know our friends, but our families.
Do not forget the important suggestions given in
this text. That is, Lazarus knew Jesus. Jesus was
his friend and Saviour. But Lazarus also knew
Mary and Martha. He remembered his sisters fa¬
miliarly. He remembered them in their helpless¬
ness. He did not forget them when seated at- the
and His Twelve Apostles.
11
table with Christ. ] beg yon, Christian travelers,
not to be discouraged; lift up your heads. Don't
let the thought of the grave frighten you, for the
grave is oinly a shady spot on your road to heaven,
where you may stop and rest.
CHAPTER II.
JOHN'S WONDERFUL FIGURATIVE VISION.
"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven;
a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under
her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve
stars."—Rev. 12:1.
HAT a privilege is mine this morning,
dear congregation, to be permitted by
the three JFersons m the Trinity to bring
to you this neavenly message. I wish,
brethren, that I had sense enough to
comprehend the trust and to appreciate God's gift
to man when He permits me to take His divine
things and divine thoughts out of the book of
heaven's blesstd library and show them to mortal
men. Our text tells us of a wonder in heaven. I
want to stop just lolng enough to say to you, my
dear congregation, that in all ages and i ll times
heaven has gotten from earth its brightest gems
from the furnace of persecution and from the in¬
valid chairs. From the furnace of persecution
heaven got Bunyan, Whitfield and Legree; from the
invalid's chair went Mary Windon, Sarah Knots
and Timothy's grandmother, Lunis. Oh, these
grand women and men are today enjoying them¬
selves in the parks of eternal bliss, because of the
ever blessed presence of Jesus Christ—more than
tongue can describe or the uncelestial can bear. It
('?.)
14
Dedicated to Jesus Christ.
was in the furnace of persecution that Brother John
was permitted to see all these glorious things re¬
corded in the Book of Revelation, without which,
what would the Christians do? The Island of Pat-
mos, that was intended to be the most lonesome
spot for John in all of his Christian course, for
■which purpose he was banished there—on Sunday
morning, became one of the most blessed of all
places in all this universe. Yes, heaven lighted up
a lighthouse on this lonely isle that has been
guiding Christian men and women and the Christian
church over the sea of time into the break-waters
of eternal bliss for over two thousand years. We
have positive proof by the Christians of all ages
that God's great presence is more clearly seen and
felt when the Christians are alone. From the Alps
of the Isle of Patmos John saAv heaven—saw a
woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under
lier feet and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
Oh, my dear brethren, let us go straight into tlie
thought suggested by this text. Some of our ablest
divines have said that the Book of Revelation
abounds in dreams, metaphors and similes. If it
does, all is for the glory of God and the betterment
of man. If it does friot, the great truth of the death,
burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ is uninjured
and unimpaired. The part of this text, my dear
brethren, that refers to the woman clothed with
the sun is evidently the church, for as the sun gets
light from no other body but depends entirely upon
its Creator, so the church—the coming wife, the
bride of Jesus Christ—is in the world giving off
light to every soul that will have it without re¬
ceiving any from any source but its own Creator.
Yes, God bless your soul, we are told that our pre¬
sent sun, which lights up the world, weighs as much
as 58,000 worlds like the present one we inhabit,
and His Twelve Apostles.
15
and still the sun. is only the dress—oh, yes, the
evening gown—of the bride, the Lamb's wife.
But we will notice again that the moon is under
her feet. The moon is one of the system of lumi¬
naries that shines with a borrowed light, ataxl must
forever be under the feet of the church, the bride—
the Lamb's wife—who shines with a self-sustaining
blaze. Shine on, dear old church, shine on! Thou
hast been persecuted; thy sons and daughters have
been burned at the stake; thy children and be¬
lievers have been maltreated; it is true, but the
blaze of everlasting forgiveness with which the
church has been shining, and is still shining, can
never be put out by the rain and storm of infidelity
or the stupidity of ignorant and feeble believers.
What a fellowship! What a joy divine! We will
lean and depend oin God's everlasting Word!
I had a talk with an Abyssinian orderly sergeant,
who had charge of an Abyssinian army in Sioux
City, who said that they had whipped and humili¬
ated Italy, and that he did not believe that any
arm.y on earth with like numbers could whip an
Abyssinian army. I believe in the absolute triumph
of the church over every foe. f believe that
Omniscience is behind e\ery move of the church.
Some times the secret societies of earth take our
feeble members and harbor them away from the
church for weeks, for months, and sometimes for
years. Let us, who are saved, wTho are salvation-
bent and eternity-bound, pray and wait. They will
return to the church some day by their own free
wills. They must return to the church, because out^
side of her all is dangerous.
Solomon saw the church peeping out oh the
world of sin and ignorance, and said from the
depths and brightness of his soul: "Who is she
16
Dedicated to Jesus Christ.
that looketh forth as the morning, clear as the sun
and terrible as an army with banners?"
Ilow linn a foundation,
Ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith
J n His excellent word!
What more can He say
Than to you he has sain—
You who unto Jesus
For refuge have fled?"
But let us notice again that on her head is a
crown, of twelve stars. Twelve, methinks, is in¬
tended first to represent her perfection. The num¬
ber 12 is also intended to represent in her crown
the twelve tribes of the Children of Israel, and then
to represent the twelve apostles of the Lamb. Yes,
the dear old church that is passing through, so many
changes and difficulties, encountering so many hard
winds and storms, dressed as she is in the most
heavenly garment that Omniscience could suggest—
she is preparing to meet her coming husband. Will
you be there, dear saints? I will, God helping me.
Let us sing:
'' All hail the po(wer of Jesus' name!
Let angels prostrate fall;
Bring forth the royal diadem
And crown Him Lord of all.
'' Let every kindred, every tribe
On this terrestrial ball
To Him all majesty ascribe,
Ana crown Him Lord of all'"
CHAPTER III.
JORDAN AND CANAAN TYPICAL OF DEATH
AND HEAVEN.
"For ye shall pass over Jordan to go in, to pos¬
sess the land which the Lord, your God, giveth you,
and ye shall possess and dwell therein."—Joshua
3:8.
Y Brethren and Sisters: It is a pleasure
to me, as well as a duty, to write on
this important theme. It brings us face
to face with some of the sweetest memo¬
ries of the future, and that future preg¬
nant with unborn glories, which glories when de¬
livered, shall astonish, the redeemed and the glori¬
fied.
The seventeen years of my ministry in one church
have passed like a beautiful spring morning. Lt
seems that I have been in a Beulah land of sweet
dreams. Sometimes we have been living in the
beautiful Canaan of our desires, and sometimes in
the very storm center of persecutions. I would
have you liotice, my dear sisters and brethren, that
like heaven, Canaan was a land of promise. When
in the wilderness, amid difficulties and discourage¬
ments, the children of Israel would have perhaps
given up the journey but for1 the inducements that
the land of Canaan offered. Canaan was a land
(17)
18
Dedicated to Jesus Christ.
flowing with milk and honey, and still it was a
land that was given. Oh, my brothers a'nd sisters,
in this modern wilderness we children ot (rod
would give up but for the inducements that heaven
holds oat. Heaven js a land bought for us by the
death of Jesus Christ, and that land is full to over¬
flowing with all the blessings that the infinite mind
of God could produce. How can we give up the
jourtney, though the way be strewn with thorns and
thistles, when with our spiritual eye we gaze into
the virtues of the eternal future and see new bless¬
ings being born hourly from the great mind.of the
Deity for us? Truly heaven is the center of the
universe and the home of the saint.
In the second place, let us notice that Canaan
was a land of abundance—rich in corn, rich in
grain, rich in tropical fruits; everything necessary
to the comfort of Israel when once they arrived in
that land. My darling brothers and sisters, I would
have you notice that we have been hearing from
heaven daily and hourly nearly 2,000 years—yea,
6,000 years—and all the messages received, whether
brought by angels or saints, agree it is a land of
plenty, a land rich in songs, rich in thoughts, rich
in forgiveness, rich in glory. Dear Lord, help the
old saints who came from the burning pits of
slavery and who have had nothing but poverty and
disaster staring them in the face this whole jour¬
ney, and those who may read this feeble discourse
to see that their Father and my Father has pre¬
pared for them abundance in the beautiful land
across the river.
Let us notice in the third place that the land was
to be a land of permanent homes, that Israel was
to take it from those who were not worthy of it
and live there forever. While I speak to you,
brothers and sisters, 1 hear a whisper in my ears
and His Twelve Apostles.
19
from across the river that the citizens of the
heavenly Canaatn never break up or move away.
0, yes, Adam, Enoch, Moses, Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob were among the first arrivals from earth's
Egypt to the heavenly Canaan, and by faith while
I speak to you I see them all; they are before me
nov\r; not one of th^m is any older than the fir?t
morning they arrived, and will not, change their
habitation, for it is not rented; it was purchased
by the priceless blood of Jesus, and they will re¬
main there, oh, blessed be God! until God sleeps
and the gold-paved streets grow up in millet and
weeds, and until the glorified saved from earth
forget Jesus, the saints will not move—never, never,
never.
In 1900 it was my privilege as well as my pleasure
to visit the great World's Exposition in France. I
saw there the most powerful telescope that had ever
been invented by humata beings. I paid the price,
and through the lens to my eyes brought the solar
system near enough to me to investigate it. Oh, I
thought I saw undiscovered beings which could not
be seen with the natural eye. They were grander
than we, living in their worlds—grander in physical
mechanism, grander in nearness to God.
But I am sorry to say that the Jordan rolled be¬
tween the children and the Canaan they desired.
So the 8,000,000 Christians of earth would,
rise up and march together into, the gold-paved
street city but for the Jordan of death, which rolls
between us and heaven, and we cannot cross until
the waters are made to divide. Oh, this Jordan
of death, separating us from glory keeps us in a
country of dissension, in a country of sickness, in a
country of sorrow, in a country of death. This
Jordan separates the church militant from the
church triumphant, but thanks be to God, there
are 8,000,000 believers who are encamped on the
20
H Dedicated to Jesus Christ.
banks of the Jordan of death waiting for the com¬
mand of Joshua's God, and from my God and from
your God to have the waters of death, divide and
let us go over on dry ground. And notwithstand¬
ing this Jordan, sometimes we feel anxious even
to attempt to ford it because our dear ones are
over there. I was once sitting by the death bed
of Louis Vance, who was dying in Clarksville, Tenn.,
and who said to me: ''Brother pastor, I shall cross
the Jordan death toinight, and I am anxious to
cross because I hear them singing in the city eternal,
and I hear my mother's voice in the throne. Oh,"
he said, "it is the same soprano voice that sang
me to sleep in my childhood days; it is the same
voice that cheered me in manhood. I hear her just
across the Jordan."
I would have you notice also that, the Priest bear¬
ing the ark of the covenant, which is the word of
God, was to stand iti the midst of the Jordan until
all the children had passed over that the
rolled-up waters could not engulf them. So, my
brothers and sisters, when we come to the Jordan
of death, Christ will separate the waters
of death and stand in the midst of that Jordan un¬
til every child of God, saved through the blood of
Jesus Christ, and reconciled to the law of his love,
shall pass over. Pass over Jordan? Yes,
pass over Jordan, pass into the land of riches, the
land of peace, the land of unending joy and love.
For years this Jordan has rolled between us and our
heartfelt desires. We expect sometime to see her
absolutely dried up and all Israel crossed by the
command of my and your Saviour. We shall know
Him by the prints of the nails in His hands.
CHAPTER IV.
YOUNG MAN OF CHARACTER.
"Then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh, say¬
ing, I do remember my faults this day."—Gen. 41:9.
RETIIREN and Sisters: This morning I
have the most beautiful story, perhaps
in all of the Bible to relate to you. This
story has two sides: the one Godly and
the other human. The Godly side is
beautiful, and is overshadowed by the branches of
eternal trees whose leaves are for the healing of
the nations. The human side is black with disap¬
pointments and dismay. The picture presented, my
friends, is one that every family may guard against.
Here is a family in which there were twelve sons.
The one next to the youngest was beautiful, attrac¬
tive, and very obedient and very dear to his father.
The others set upon this one to get rid of him, be¬
cause of a fit of Unwarranted jealousy. And here
we behold the intervention of God in the absolute
redemption of even a young man who will love and
serve Ilim.
In the wicked council that was held against
Joseph by his brethren, it was decided to put him
in one of the prison wells of Syria. These wells,
my brethren, were from 100 to 500 feet deep. For
(21)
22
Dedicated to Jesus Christ.
the worst offenses that men committed in those
days they Avere dropped into these Avells, never to
be heard of again. Criminals were dropped into
these wells, where others had been put before them.
What must have been the excruciating punishment
even of a criminal in one of these wells!
But Joseph had committed no ci'ime. He was a
faithful and obedient young man to all of the
family's interests. So God was with him, as He
is and will be with ever}* faithful and good and
intelligent young man. The jury of brothers that
decided to put him in the well had a majority, it
is true, but the less malicious of the brothers dis¬
sented from this decision, and yet he united in the
verdict to sell Joseph into Egypt as a slave. I
want to tell you this morniing, my brethren and
young men, that the way to greatness and power
is no easy way. The way to the saloon, by the
billiard table and through revelry is not the road
to honor and greatness.
This young man was sold by his brethren to some
Egyptian slave traders. And I would have this
congregation notice that these were Egyptian slave
traders. And here we find that the Negro was in
the slave-trading business—trading in human be¬
ings. And that is why the Negro was sold and
bought by the white man. God says that whatso¬
ever a man soweth that shall he also reap. Re¬
member that whatever races or nations sow they
shall also reap. Yes, this young man was guided
around the destructive well by the great providence
of God. Had he been thrown into the well noth¬
ing more would ever have been heard of him. But
God would not permit this. It will never be pos¬
sible for the wicked to eternally end up the Chris¬
tian's usefulness. Here the providence of God
takes Joseph safely by the well. But that same
and His Twelve Apostles.
28
providence permits him to be taken into slavery.
It was less punishment afnd not more than Joseph
could bear.
I learn that our Heavenly Father will not per¬
mit more sorrows to fall upon those who trust him
than we can bear. Joseph is in slavery, but blessed
be God, it was the path through which God intended
to take him to the throne of Egypt. The worst
has not yet come for the enslaved young man. He
is made a servant in Pharaoh's house, and because
of liis refusal to obey a wicked request of Pharaoh's
wife, she charges a great crime against him to her
husband, and shows some of his clothing
which she had torn from him and then swore to a
lie, which landed him in prison. But two years
later the interpretation of a dream, which his mas¬
ter, Pharaoh, had dreamed, delivered him from
prison, and secured to him the appointment of
Kings Secretary of War.
My Lord and my God, what wouders God can
work for any of us who will trust our interest in
His hands. 0 hallelujah! Here is a young man
who listened to God's providential dictation, and
that providence guided him by the deep wells of his
country into slavery, and then into the filthy dun¬
geons of an Egyptian jail. And in thirty years he
was the king's counsellor with a character as pure
as it was the morning his mother gave him birth.
Lord Jesus, help us, thy brothers and sisters, to
read daily and prayerfully this old Bible, this re¬
vealed Word, this everlasting Word, this living
Word. Help us to so read it, Lord, that it will keep
a spark of hope living in us until we shall be able
by Thy great grace to move from an earthly slav¬
ery past all the wells and cesspools of sin, and all
that our enemies may heap upon us, and until we
shall arrive at the celestial throne, whose builder
and maker is God.
24
Dedicated to Jesus Christ.
This Christian young man, surrounded by snares,
lied on by a king's wife, has now spent three thou¬
sand years with the God that he served while he
lived. Yes, he lives in the kingdom, and above
want. He lives at the headquarters of all things,
lie lives at the beginning of music, and where
music shall end.
Lord, Jesus, Master, help us to be honest, upright,
faithful, duty doing Christians, is the prayer of
your servant.
The chief butler said, Li the language of my text,
I do remember my faults. I learn hfre, my breth¬
ren, that we are not prepared to do for others or
to give others credit for what they can do until
we remember our own faults. The chief butler at
last remembered his own faults, and it was then
that he remembered the virtues of Joseph and made
them known to the king. Amen.
CHAPTER V.
JOURNEYING TO THE PROMISED LAND.
"We are journeying to the place of which the
Lord hath said, I will give it yon; come thou with
us and we will do thee good; for the Lord hath
spoken good concerning Israel." (Num. 10:29.)
ES, blessed Second Sunday in July, we
hail thee with joyous delight. tn
thy coming thou hast brought with thee
precious memories of the resurrection of
Jesus Christ, the final resurrection of the
saints, and the eternal rest of all the believers here¬
after. We hail thee with infinite delight because-
thou hast through Jesus Christ and his resurrection
called all of the people from their daily avocations
to sit down in this heavenly place and consider the
presents and unmitigated joys with which the
great future is pregnant.
I confess that I am overwhelmed with a sort of
mingled joy and grief as I contemplate the future
sorrow; but that sorrow will be made to give place
to hallowed strains of joy as I repeat the Undying
words of a resting apostle, who said: '' Eye hath not
seen nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the
heart of man the things which God hath in reserve
for them that, love Him." Let us think about the
religion of the Bible. It is a perfect transcript of
(25)
26
Dedicated to Jesus Christ.
divine mind. Ii is holy, just and good. It is the
shadow under which my mother stood in the days
or slavery a;n I oppression. It was the religion of
the Bible that made John Bunyan say, "If my phy¬
sical strength will endure it and if God will be my
helper, I will stay in Bedford's jail'until moss grows
on my eyelids before I will deny the religion of
the Bible and faith in Jesus Christ/' From Chris¬
tianity will be a sunrise whose gentle, effulgent
rays will shine away every dark spot, every sinful
act, every act of ulnkindness, and then we will en¬
joy that peace that has been sixty centuries coming,
and which has been expected by all believers from
Adam to us.
Oh, let it come, pray let it come! Then will be
the spirit of purity, the practice of righteousness
.and the diffusion of goodness. These virtues will
yet leap from hemisphere to hemisphere, reign from
tropic to tropic, and from zone to zone.
I tell you, there are multitudes of people who
are in need of this time. Here are the poor, the
fatherless and the widows, the orphans and the
sick. Do you k|now, my dear friends, that I am
personally acquainted with Christians who were
once robust and strong, but who are now so emaci¬
ated by years of sickness that they are steadily
begging for another country? They are longing
for the companionship of saints; they want the
company of angels. I had one of these sufferers
to say to me: "Brother Stokes, I have asked God,
my Father, to take me home, and if he only would
take my life, my spirit would leap to him and kiss
him in the twinkling of an eye." Oh, what Chris¬
tian stability! What ambition! What religious
audacity! God's people are truly traveling to the
celestial Canaan.
Two things we might profitably notice—the jour-
27
ney and the place. The journey is begun at con¬
version and regeneration. Here sin is abandoned;
the mind is changed; the back is turned on the
city of destruction and the whole of nature com¬
pletely reserved. Sins once loved are how hated.
The heavenly journey is indeed well begun. That
soul, like Israel, travels by a pillow of cloud in the
day of his contentment, but in the night of sorrow
and adversity God gives him a pillow of fire. God,
our Heavenly Father, almighty architect of the
universe, I ask that thou wouldst hang out a pillow
of lire that the hundreds of Christians who read this
sermon may kjnow that thou hast pillows of fire to
hang out from their sick beds to guide them as they
pass through the dark night of their affliction. I
would call your attention to the fact that this;
heavenly journey is continued by the soul advanc¬
ing in knowledge towards God. Think of the con¬
trast : yesterday the soul's chief delight was in ex¬
ploring the dark regions of sin. It bathed itself in
profanity; its water was deception and drunkenness.
Its bread was opposition to God's law and his in¬
carnate Son. But now what a change! It is now
in pursuit of the mind of God. The will of God ex ¬
pressed is its will. The loud "hallelujah" expressed
i(n the church by some old, gray-haired mother or
father, who is about to take shipping for the Canaan
of our eternal rest, or a "glory to God" from the
mouth of some young woman or man who has re¬
cently entered the Christian warfare, shoots through
that soul like an arrow from an Indian's quiver.
Oh, think of the change! A few days before his
conversion the thunders of God's wrath rolled fury
and threatening over the sky of his earthly exist¬
ence, while the lightning of God's pent up venge¬
ance flashed with peerless vividness to light up his
Dedicated to Jesus Christ.
rough, rugged road to destruction that he might
repent with no avail. But now one verse of—
I saw one hanging on a tree.
In agony and blood;
He fixed his dying eyes on me,
As near his cross I stood.
Let us notice this phrase of the text, "Come thou
with us and we will do tliee good." 1 notice there
is a jealous competition in everything in life ex¬
cept religion. No man wants you to equal him as
a merchant. No woman wants to acknowledge you
her equal as a teacher. Jealousy and unholy com¬
petition are seen aijid felt in all the walks of lite.
But notice the invitation of the Christians as they
pass through this wilderness, '"'Come thou with me
we will do thee good." A better rendering is,
"Come thou with us and we will help thee." It is
the one and the long desire of every believer that
all sinners shall go with them to the land of their
rest. No wicked jealousy to retard the Christian
progress. We have only a holy rivalry, on account
of the love we have for our God and on account of!
the infinite promise made to us for Christian work,
when God says that they that turn many to right¬
eousness shall shine forth as the stars in the firma¬
ments. Standing as we are, my brethren, in the
midst of the promised land, I gaze in front of me
and I see God, the Father, and Christ,' the Son,
seated upon the throne; and I see the souls of those
who were beheaded for the word of God, and for
the testimony which they held. Now I look in
front of the throne and I see Bunya.n, the Bedford
sufferer. I look again amid the trees of life, under
whose shades we may expect eternal sweetness, and
from which we may expect the celestial fragrance
that shall keep the odor of heaven through all the
dashing waves of etertnity, and I see John the Bap-
29
tist, the camel;s hair preacher. lie was the Bap¬
tist whose head Herod severed. But Lord God Al¬
mighty, who art, and who was, and who is to come;
who are those I see on Mount Zion? Then methinks
angels and saints rise in their heavenly truthfulness
to say to us near-approaching saints, and to the
newly-arrived childrein of God, our Father; chil¬
dren who have been coming through the lonely wil¬
derness, now standing in heaven, amid the throne,
amid the rainbow, amid the Sea of Glass, near
angels and saints: '' These are they that have come
up out of great tribulations and have washed their
robes atnd have made them white in the blood of the
Lamb.'' ' Oh, heaven, the home of the Trinity. Oh,
heaven, the believer's expected place of rest! when
shall these eyes thy heaven-built walls and pearly
gates behold"? Thy bulwarks with salvation strong
and streets of pearly gold? Heaven! Heaven!
Heaven!
CHAPTER VI.
A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH.
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth for
the first heaven and the first earth were passed
away and there was no more sea."—Rev. 21:1.
HIS text may be metaphorical; John
might have been metaphorically speak¬
ing, but what he says is as true as the
existence of God; true as the angels live
and as true as Christ died; he tells us in
this mighty vision he saw a new heaven and a new
earth. A new heaven ?
What is meant here? Why, a new sky, new sun,
new moon, new stars, new solar system, new air,
fragrant with the zephyrs that blow from the trees
that stand oto either side of the river of eternal life?
New heaven? What had passed away? The old
heaven. Think of the enormity of wealth that had
passed away. Astronomers tell us that our present
sun weighs as much as 350,000 worlds like the one
we now inhabit. All the brightest stars with their
heavenly diamond glitter, with phenomenal bright¬
ness and beauty must pass away to give place for a
new heaven. 0 yes, brethren, we need a new
heaven. Our present heaven is dangerous. I was
told by a gentleman in Texas some years ago that
(3i)
32
Dedicated to Jesus Christ.
a blaze of lightning shot from our present heaven
and struck the dry prairie and b<ifried up hundreds
of cattle, millions of birds and other animals good
for man. Our present heaven sometimes is fearlul
to look upon, from the earth, Avater and skies come
the fearful tornadoes that wipe whole cities from
the map and people hell and heaven.
We want a new heaven. A heaven where the air
is not dangerous for the reparatory organs of man.
A heaven that is more suited for our heaven-born
disposition. Lord, God, who art our Father, so help
thy unworthy servant this morning to call thy chil¬
dren's minds away from the transitory things of
life and cause us to meditate upon heavenly things.
If our present heaven with all its phenomenal
grandeur and glory, the beauties of whose day strike
the admiration of heavenly beings and whose nights
are weighted with the glitter and beauty of the
solar system, I say that if God is going to tear down
this old heaven that has stood for nearly six thou¬
sand years, for the erection of a new heaven, what
must the new heaven be? New heaven! New heav¬
en ! For the old heaven is now passed away. My
Lord and my God, let's use the inspired body of
Brother Paul to express our present feelings when
he says: "Eye has not seen nor ear heard, neither
has it entered into the heart of man the things that
God has in store for them that love him."
A new heaven! Brother John says this new
heaven is radiant with light without a sun, beautiful
beyond the description of man. No adjective can
be found in all language to describe heaven where¬
in we reach the superlative degree in thought and
descriptive language of earth; we haven't begun
a proper description of the underneath of the
house called heaven.
But, my dear brothers and sisters, there is just
Dr. Stokes in Eastern Dress.
and His Twelve Apostles.
33
one plirase in this text that says there shall be no
more sea. Life with us is a sea, stormy and dan¬
gerous. The restless waters of the Atlantic are in¬
dicative; of distress and danger and indicate the
way of the Christian life from regeneration to
heaven. In passing over this sea of time there
might be occasional sunshine. O, I remember some
years ago crossing the Atlantic, one beautiful, sun¬
shiny day, when I saw no cloud in the heaven above
me. All the passenggrs and crew on the great St.
Paul seemed to be happy beyond description, but in
the midst of this blessed sunshine, suddenly, a little
newspaper was gotten out hurriedly and scattered
around the passengers announcing that we were
within three hours of a fearful storm. I remem¬
ber how the mast poles and riggins of the vessel
dragged, in the waters right out of a beautiful day
into a fearful storm. So it is with every Christian
who reads these words. Sometimes 011 our Chris¬
tian journey we have a few hours of sunshine, but
our heavenly barometer which is a part of the
Christian soul tells us of the gathering storm ahead
of us.
My dear brothers and sisters, who have for yearj
been crossing this sea of time, these restless waters,
these mad waters, some morning our heaven-tossed
soul shall weigh anchor in the heaven of everlasting
rest, the new heaven of which I have in a feeble
manner tried to describe. We could make up all
capabilities and possibilities of the soul, and make
that soul forget, for a time, its earthly existence.
By faith it stands on the sea of glass mingled with
fire, while numbers stand in celestial beauty before
the throne and cry, Worthy is the Lamb that was
slain to receive the honor and glory and dominion
world without end. Amen !
But I must not forget to tell you that the jour-
34
Dedicated to Jesus Christ.
ney terminates at death; this is the end of the
Christian race; this is the close of the war; this is
the termination of labor and the beginning of rest.
To accomplish this, brethren, we must be self-con-
iident and have the perseverance of Jesus Christ.
iSiow we're travelling to a better land,
Over desert's scorching sand;
Father, let me grasp thy hand—
Lead me on, lead me on.
When at Moriah parched with heat,
There the crystal fountains greet;
Make the bitter waters sweet—
Lead me on, lead me on.
CHAPTER VII.
HEAVENLY HOME PREPARED.
"I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come again and re¬
ceive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye
may be also." (John 14:2, 3.)
E are here this morning, my dearly be¬
loved, to consider some of the last words
of the beautiful and eventful life of
Christ Jesus the Lord. Not only beauti¬
ful and eventful, but unique. His life
was the God-like life, the only one like it the world
has ever seen, a^id the only one like it the world
will ever see. Christ was God, as if not man, and
man, as if not God.
Christ was humanity to live the life that Adam
should have lived, and God to watch over and give
dignity and value to that life. His apostles and
disciples during the thirty years of His life had
witnessed so many marvelous happenings therein
that they felt as though they could not continue
to live in the world without His holy presence.
Hence the part of the text which says: "I go to
prepare a place for you," was of great significance
and satisfaction to the then weary and discomforted
disciples. The departure of Jesus Christ from
these disciples, who knew no other Christ, no other
(35)
36
Dedicated to Jesus Christ
religion except that which lie had taught them, to
another far away world, was the most heartrending
event that could have taken place in their lives.
There are those among our readers who have en¬
joyed none but the comforts which come from the
religion taught by Jesus Christ, and were they to
learn this morning that their Christ of fort}' years
was gone, not to return to them, it would be the
saddest information that even a heavenly messen¬
ger could break unto them. But in order to keep
us encouraged and to keep all the disciples till
time ends encouraged, He said unto them and
through them to us-: "I go to prepare a place for
you.'"' In this thought hovers the brightest and
most glorious anticipations of the believer. Why,
my darling brothers and sisters, John, the beloved
apostle, has informed ns that God had already pro¬
vided a heaven for the saints in which they were
gathering out of every kindred and nation and
tongue and people. He has told us that this heaven
is built of workmanship divine; that this old city
is absolutely indescribable for its joys, its holiness
and its riches. We are told about the innumerable
citizens that are gathering there, washed white in
the blood of your and my Saviour ; but we are also
told that her foundations are so firmly Trailt that
there is no danger of a collapse of the city, because
they tell us that the city has twelve foundations-
twelve foundations. Let us gather there from the
east, from the north, from the south, and from the
west. Let us pray that all the people of earth may
hurry up to meet us there in time for the marriage
supper of the Lamb. Bless God's everlasting name,
we are to meet them there, saved by the blood of
Jesus, from Europe, Asia, Africa, America and the
isles of the sea.
And now, my dear brethren and sisters, think of
and His Twelve Apostles.
37
all the preparations, all the riches, all the glories and
all the grandeur that was prepared for the
redeemed before Christ left us, and still we have
the startling, the almost overwhelming statement,
coming from His own immutable lips, that He was
going to prepare a place for us—a place more glori¬
ous, more exalted, more beautiful than any that has
yet been described in this dear old book, the Bible.
May we all unite with the apostle in saying: "Eye
hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath it
entered into the heart of man, the things that God
hath in reserve for them that love Him."
Let us notice again that in comforting these dis¬
ciples, the blessed Lord did not forget to remind
them that He was coming again—coming to receive
all of His disciples to Himself. I cannot deal with
Christ's promise to come again without considering
my unworthiness and the world's unworthiness to
receive Him. If He has gone to prepare a place
more glorious than the first for the redeemed saints
of the past centuries, might we not suppose that
His second coming will be more glorious than the
first? His first coming was by way of the manger
■—by way of the cattle pen, born in the shade of
ridicule and under the scorching sun of hate. He
spent more than thirty years with us.
Hear His wordsThey hated me without n
cause." But let us think of His second coming.
This event marks the end of time, and opens the
gate o£ blessed eternity. To associate with Him
on this kingly journey will be angels, saints and
maybe heavenly beings of which there has been
no mention made. This trip will be unbearably
joyous, unless God, through his great Holy Ghost,
will hold some of it until we can rest a while.
Oh, my dear friehds, when all of heaven's saved
musicians shall sing the triumph of the Cross; when
38
Dedicated to Jesus Christ.
we on earth and those in heaven shall meet at some
point to part no more; when gathered amid the
myriads of millions of happy spirits, I hope one
of the chief joys will be the meeting of all the
heralds of the Cross who have suffered persecution
and shame for Him who has called us and saved us
with His own precious blood.
CHAPTER VIII.
ALL-CONQUERING CHURCH.
Solomon's Songs, 6:10: "Who is she that iooketh
forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the
sun and terrible as an army with banners?"
E may call the text Solomonprophetic
view of the church militant in three
stages of its existence. It is worthy of
note that though God prospered phe¬
nomenally this son of David and though
his prosperity reached the heavens, as it. were, he
was not unmindful of God and the baneful conse¬
quences of sin. Hence we have his words to all
young people with regard to sin. He says: "It is
vanity, vanity of vanity; all is vanity." But we
are called upon at this time to view the church as
planted by Jesus Christ; the church, the home of
the saints; the church, the property of God; the
church of which Jesus Christ said: "The gates of
hell shall not prevail against her."
My text says: "She Is fair as the moon;" she is
fair, therefore, to the vision of the saints. The
saints of all ages have seen beauty and glory in the
church. It is the place where God meets and
drills the saints for future battles. The saints find
their greatest pleasure in the church. Again, she
is fair for angels to look upon.
(39)
40
Dedicated to Jesus Christ
Strange as it may seem, yet true, my brethren,
that angels who live in the home of God, who stay
in that city whose streets are pure gold, like as
transparent glass, that city whose very gates are
pearl, we get only a faint glimpse of the beauty of
the church, when we remember that angels live in
the city as above described, and the church is fair
for them to look upon. Behold the church as fair
as the moon! What infinite beauty there is about
the church militant that the saints in their present
warring condition have not yet bedn able to fully
discern.
Again, I would have you notice that the church is
like the moon, in that she shines in darkness. What
a long, dark night the world has had for more than
six thousand years! From the very moment that
Adam violated the law in the Garden of Edeto the
dark shadow of sin has brooded over the world until
this very moment. But occasionally the light of
the church breaks through the dark clouds, as does
the light of the moon, to give the traveling pilgrim
another glimpse of the way to Zion.
I notice again that there are Christian women
and men, some gone on before and some as those
presekit this morning, who have had their nights of
sorrow. You have had the night of poverty. You
have had the night of sickness. You have had the
night of destruction of your good name. You have
had the night of losses of family and friends. But
I tell you now that I hear of a day, an eternal day,
of which I think I discern the everlasting rays of
the sun, which shine away all sickness, all sorrow,
all pain ajnd all death. "For there shall be no more
pain, for the former things have passed away."
Again, I would call your attention to the fact, that
the church shines with a borrowed light, as does
the moon. The moon gets its light from the re-
and His Twelve Apostles.
41
i'raeted rays of the sunlight and distributes it to
the earth's traveler through its silvery lines at
night. So the church gets its light from the Sou
of God. Oh! what light comes to the church
through that Son lifted by the eternal providence
of God on Calvary's, cross! All peoples, nations
and languages must look through the church to the
hill of Calvary, whence comes all of our light—
light to show us our sins, light to bring us to re¬
pentance, light to throw us in the groove of justifi¬
cation, light to make us believe and to be baptized.
Now, let us consider that the church is like the
moon, in that she has her spots. In all the ages that
have passed we have had bright days and some
bright nights. The moon has sholne to the satisfac¬
tion of all, notwithstanding her spots.
So it is with the church. She has had her spots.
The enemies of Jesus Christ and the church have
magnified those spots under powerful microscopes
for the purpose of assaulting the church purchased
by the blood of Jesus Christ. No doubt, my
brethren, you have noticed that when an attack is
made on the church they usually,, before it is made,
either select the weakest member in the cTTurch and
attack all the good people of the church, through
this one weak member, or lie on a good member
and then attack their own lie, and thereby attempt
to reflect upon the whole church militant. But I
would have you notice that the church militant is
like the moon, in that it is so stationed that no en¬
emy can reach her. A Christian lady oface told me
that she was the owher of a very) bad dog, and at
night when no one else was passing this dog would
sit all night and bark at the moon. She said that
she believed that this dog sat barking at the moon
until he contracted cold enough to cost his life.
So the church of Jesus Christ has had her dogs
barking at her ferociously through all ages. Tom
42
Dedicated to Jesus Christ.
Payne barked at her by day and by night until he
took a cold and died. Votaire barked at her1 until
he died. There are men and women in Montgomery
today who are assaulting the Christian people, the
Christian ministry and the Christian church. They
nave forgotten the saying of Jesus with regard to
the Christian: "That no weapon raised against
thee shall prosper," and in regard to the Christian
church he says: "The gates of hell shall not prevail
against it."
But my text says that the church in its second
stage will be as "clear as the sun." Here the
church is seen in its perfect state, with heat to bring
the dead to life, with light, not borrowed, but gen¬
erated in itself. It is also said here in this text that
"she is to be as terrible as an army with banners."
After the fall of Jericho and the taking of Ai
under the leadership of Joshua, wheinever any of
the heathen tribes would see Israel camped about
their cities that city became terror stricken at once.
They knew that that was the Lord's host. Oh!
church, let me say to you this morning that for eigh¬
teen hundred years Jesus Christ has been recruit¬
ing and drilling the soldiers of the church to cap¬
ture the world. When the Christians of every creed
shall take a stand together for God and righteous¬
ness, then Jesus, the field gefneral, for eighteen
hundred years, will order the saints of every age
to rise up, and in the light of the Christian church
and by means of the spy-glass of faith and by the
sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God, cut
to pieces and kill every enemy of the Cross. Then
will he put to flight every sin that has so long re¬
sisted the church. Lord, God Almighty, assist us
by Thy grace as we attempt from time to time in
our unworthincss and ignorance to make this fight
for Thee.
CHAPTER IX.
CHRISTIAN IN BATTLE FOR CHRIST.
"Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I
am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest
unto your souls.''—Matt. 11:29.
HE people of God are, in this text, di¬
rected of God to yoke themselves to¬
gether for the heavy burdens they are to
bear. The burdens of the believers to¬
ward this end of the twentieth century,
I think, are commensurate with the burdens of any
other age when Ave contemplate the. cruelties heaped
upon Joseph in the land of Egypt and the hard¬
ships Daniel encountered on his way from common
citizenship, by the way of' the lion's den to the
throne of a king. We are apt, my brethren, to
underestimate the skill and force of the attacks
made by Satan upon the believer of this age. But
I wish to remind you that the enemies of the cross
and of Jesus Christ were never so formidable as
now. Their attacks are continuous, merciless and;
fierce. Hence, the command from Jesus, the head
of the church and the minister to us in this very
significant language: 1' Take my yoke upon you and
learn of me." The idea advanced by Him is to
yoke yourselves together.
I wish I knew as-a truth that all Christian be-
(43)
44
Dedicated to Jesus Christ
lievers were this morning yoked together for the
extermination of the foes of the church and Christ,
our living head. I am expecting some day to hear
a call from the Holy Ghost through some of his
agents on earth that a convention is called in which
all of the believers in Calvary, the manger and
the tomb shall be asked to participate. At this
meeting I expect Christians of every creed and of
every denomination to unite and with the siege of
guns of work, prayer and songs shoot- down every
saloon under the sun and lay in ruin every house
of dissipation.
Dear brethren and sisters, let me implore you in
the name of God the Father of the universe to yoke
yourselves together for the capture of the universe.
We are fighting for the universe. The death of
Calvary meant universal salvation. For the universe
we have prayed, and for the universe we will con¬
tend. I ask the believers in this church this morn¬
ing to put on, first, as a yoke, the grace of faith.
Faith to the believer is what the telescope is to the
soldier or the compass to the mariner. Faith is
the hand of the believer, with which he or she
reaches out and grasps all the future. It is that
el ement in the Christian system which enables Chris¬
tians to live on earth and in heaven at the same
time. It enables the believer to take God at his
word without asking any questions. It makes the
Christian as humble and as simple as a child, and
makes God greater thaln the universe. And how
important in this connection do Ave find that never-
dying language of the giant Damascus apostle when
he says: "Without faith it is impossible to please
God, for he that comes to God must believe that He
is, and that he is a rewarder of him that diligently
seeks him."
I implore you, dear hearers, to put on the yoke
and His Twelve Apostles.
45
of faith. In the next place permit me to beg you
to put on the yoke of baptism. Baptism is an out¬
ward emblem, it is true, but I implore you to put
it on because it sets forth in a very beautiful and
striking emblem your death to sin and your resur¬
rection to a new life. It also sets forth, in a very
striking picture, that though your mothers and
fathers of other ages were dead and buried perhaps
long before you came upon the stage of action,
they shall rise again. Yes, blessed resurrection of
the regenerated is set forth. And the blessed self-
resurrection of Jesus is set forth in the burial amd
resurrection of Iiis saints. Put it on, puf it on!
The next I wish you to notice is that you should
put on the yoke of church membership. A Chris¬
tian in the world with no church membership re¬
minds me of a lost meteor or a ship in mid-ocean
with a full view, plenty of steam and a full cargo,
but bound for nowhere. Can you contemplate this
pitiful sight? If you are a Christian, .join the church.
The church is God's enlisting office froin which
the armies of heaven get new recruits. The church
membership, my brethren, includes your faithful
attendance to all the services, and it further means
that you will support the church with your monies,
with your talent and with your life, if necessary.
I have known church members who wore this par¬
ticular yoke as long as they loved the preacher, or
or liked liim, but as soon as they ceased to love the
preacher (which is not very ldng at most) they take
off this yoke. Lord Jesus, my Savior, we beg that
Thou wouldst assist us in teaching through Thy
grace that the yoke of church membership is to be
worn through this sojourn here and to be taken oft'
only w"hen their membership is transferred to the
church triumphant and so, my dear hearers, you will
notice this morning that the gospel has a yoke for
46
Dedicated to Jesus Christ
you of holy service. We will next notice that it is a
yoke of submission. I have taken pains to notice
that, in the more than forty years of service, I have
given to the church of my Saviour not one trouble
that ever retarded the church's progress ever arose
from praying and worshipping people in the
church. As a rule the worshippers in Zion submit
whether they are treated right or wrong. They
have many trials, it is true, many besetmcnts and
great difficulties, but they go on their way rejoic-.
ing, knowing that Jesus said that the yoke would
be easy and the burden would be made lighter.
Yes, brethren, do you not think that Paul must
have thought the yokes put upon him by profession,
by baptism and„ by church membership were easy ?
After spending more than four years in Caesarea's
jail, nine moinths upon a stormy sea and a long
time in the cat-a-combs of Rome, he writes: These
light afflictions which are but for a moment will
work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory. Think of it, Christian soldiers,
this morning, he calls four years in Caesarea's jail,
light affliction; nine mouths on the mad Aegean sea
with handcuffs on his hands, he calls light affliction.
Day and night in the dungeon until one swipe of a
Roman sword against the immaculate neck of an
apostle sets his spirit free, he calls light afflictions,
light afflictions, light afflictions.
Let me say to you widows this morning, that the
torture through which you are passing in your
battle for bread for those fatherless children left
you by that saintly father, who is at this time bath¬
ing amid the waves of ten thousand hallelujahs, is
high affliction. Anna passed through those afflic¬
tions; Rebecca passed through those afflictions, ^o
all whom this sermon may come greeting: I may
perhaps never have the pleasure of shaking your
and His Twelve Apostles.
47
hands, and, therefore, I now take this occasion to
bid you Godspeed. War a good warfare; lay hold
on denial life.
''On the happy golden shoiv,
Where the faithful part no more;
When the storms of life are o'er,
Meet me there.'"
CHAPTER X.
ETHIOPIAN PRINCES COMING OUT OF EGYPT.
Psalms 68:1: "Princes shall come out of Egypt;
Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.''
AYID, the beloved of God, the true friend
of God, and the revenger of the enemies
of Israel, is the father of this text. He
lived one thousand and fifty years be¬
fore the coming of the great Messiah, but
was permitted to see the past, the present and the
future. He was. familiar with the events that took
place in the days of Abraham, with events that
took place in the days of Isaac, and with the trials
and sufferings of Joseph. All of those years of
imprisonment under Pharaoh were familiar to the
servant of God—David. He has said things that
were applicable to the people of Asia, of Europe,
and the isles of the sea, and of Africa, for my text
says that Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands
unto God, and the princes shall come out of her.
She shall stretch forth her hands unto God.
I stand here this morning, my brethren, within
four steps of the end of the nineteenth century, and
I look back three thousand years. I see there
David, the giver of this text; Solomon, his
son, who carried with him, day by day, the. benedic¬
tion of God.
(49)
50
Dedicated to Jesus Christ
I see coming this way Benjamin, Jereboam, and
1 see the fulfillment of this text, coming with a
blazing light, Avhose refraction and rays will yet fill
the whole earth with the glory of God. And as
my people came from Africa, or from Ethiopia, a
little less than three hundred years ago, we raay
bring some lessons to bear directly upon the con¬
ditions and circumstances of my people. It s.?em$
to me that this text was written mainly for our
comfort. It comforted our mothers and fathers,
and was the beacon light of hope in the darkest
dq,ys of their slavery.
Before we had a Sumner, a Lincoln or a Gar¬
rison to plead our cause we had a David, staindmg
upon the mountain top of gospel heights, throwing
his prophecy over* the hopeless shadow of three
thousand years, saying to an oppressed people that
Ethiopia shall stretch f^rth her hands to. God. In
those days when masters were so cruel that they
seemed to have lost consciousness of the great here¬
after; with the early morn the crack of the whip
and the whoop of the bloodhound were the carnate
sounds, before many a night the victim slave would
be begging and writhinc in his blood, with mother
fearful to plead for her son in agony, father help¬
less to defend him, sisters crying at the horrifying
butchery, and overseer enjoying the brutality as
sport. But, alas, the signal light of this old gospel
prophecy, piercing through the dark chasm of these
awful days, said that Ethiopia should yet stretch
her hands to God.
Brethren, Jnone of the living and not all of the
dead will ever forget when the light struck this
North American continent. Its full ray struck our
country in '58. We had the Underground Railway,
the Dred Scott Decision- which disturbed the entire
judiciary department of the North and South.
The questions of receiving Kansas and Nebraska
and His Twelve Apostles.
51
into the Ujiion' as slave States were elements of
great disturbance. Compromise after compromise
was offered by great and brave men from the North
and from the South, from the East and from the
West, but the solution could not be found in all
the wide realm of intellectual and statesman attain¬
ments that could settle the perplexing question un¬
til Lee, on the 15th of Anril in '65, surrendered to
Grant, the hero of the greatest war that had ever
been fought. Then, and only then, were the turbu¬
lent elements at rest. The storm of the spirit of
secession had spent its furv, the tornado of suppres¬
sion had conquered all the turbulent elements and
had brought them in perfect subjugation. The
armies had returned to their homes, fathers went to
meet mothers and to again embrace children after
the hardest fought battles that earth had ever
known and slavery w^as then a thing of the past.
It was gone then, it is gone now, and it is gone
forever. The prophetic declaration that Ethiopia'
should stretch forth her hands to God was in full
force and it is in full force today. I predict, first,
that Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands to God
as a free and intelligent people. What a dark night
Ave have had, some of us, away from Ethiopia, on
this continent, brought here against our will; but
we can all see now that it was the most blessed
providence. Brought here to suffer for 250 years,
we waded through seas of blood and sorrow. But,
oh, blessed be God's holy name for His providence
in our deliverance from Africa and in our delivery
from slavery.
As I stand here and speak to you, my brethren,
I cast my eyes backward a little over three decades
and I see 5,000,000 of us in ignorance and super¬
stition, taking with us all of the animosities that
are characteristic of slaves. But what do I see to-
52
Dedicated to Jesus Christ
day as I stand in the middle of fifty years of our
freedom? I see on one side of me 5,000,000 of us
in ignoraoiee, homeless and without even the ele¬
ments of civilization. And now I look again on
the other side and I see 4,000 of the most faithful
preachers of the gospel that any century has ever
looked down upon. We have Christian physicians
and 40,000 Christian professors in our schools and
colleges of this coujntry moulding and shaping the
destiny of young colored boys and girls. What the
sixtieth year of our Emancipation will bring forth
only God knows.
Of the thousands of barriers with which we
have had to contend, all, thanks be to God, have
gone into oblivion under the continual assaults of
prayer by our mothers and fathers o<hly four or five
remaining, namely: the separate coach la*w, the
lynch law and some unjust decisions of unkind and
inhuman judges. But, young men, let me tell you
that my and your mother, that my father and your
father prayed up a Lincoln, prayed up a Graflit,
prayed up a Sumner and prayed up a Douglass.
They also prayed up the spirit of rebellion, and
they prayed up the ^spirit of resistance. They
prayed up war, and they prayed up our emancipa¬
tion. Oh, God, our heavenly Father, grant unto us,
who are the seed of those who came out of that
awful bondage, t obe as faithful to Thee as they
were, that we may perform the great task before
us without bloodshed and slaughter as did they.
Lord, God, of the armies of the skies, draw near to
Ethiopia as we fight these battles in the wilderness
on our way to Cajnaan!
Again, Ethiopia shall stretch forth h-ir hands to
God in religion. The dark continent, Africa, re¬
sisted God, resisted Him to His face. Her strug¬
gles in resistance continued over hundreds of years.
and His Twelve Apostles.
53
-She has refused to have the law of God reign
among her tribes; but I have noticed in recent years
that Ethiopia is stretching forth her hands to God,
and the missionary organizations of the Christian
people everywhere and of every tribe and tongue
seem to have centered upon Africa a^ the mission¬
ary Held of operation.
The English missionaries, American missionaries
and the South American missionaries will soon, my
brethren, with the electric blaze of gospel facts
gathered from Calvary, meet somewhere in the cen¬
ter of Africa, and I expect to hear soon that the
people under the long and continued efforts of these
missionaries will rise up, and the 500,000,000 of
heathens that are now bowing to their idol gods
will soon accept Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory
of God, the Father. Lord, hasten the day when
every knee shall bow and when every tongue shall
confess that thy name is precious.
We will next notice that princes are to come out
of Ethiopia. Ambassadors are to go forth as diplo¬
mats. This part of the prophecy, my brethren, has
been partially fulfilled. It was partially filled when
President Harrison sent Douglass as a prince to
Hayti. And I am expecting the day when princes
from Ethiopia shall sit in the' diplomatic circles of
every nation upon this globe.
Lord Jesus Christ, my Saviour, who bled and
died for me, I rejoice with all the Christian people
that are now seated in the gallery of heaven, look¬
ing with eternal interest upon us as we fight these
battles in this wilderness. And I rejoice in God
also, with the 11,000,000 Christians on earth, that
the mountains of prejudice and that the baneful
consequences of an enslaved people are passing
away under the direct sway of education and gospel
civilization.
54
Dedicated to Jesus Christ
I give these evils ten years to live. Either the
evils must go or the Bible must go. God's word
will take the earth or the earth will eventually take
God's word. Either way the thing goes God will
be praised. "Why, I notice that the Kings and
Presidents, that Queens and potentates, prisoners
and guards are all for church on Sundays. Oh, ray
brethren, you will remember in the great fight that
went on between Joshua and the troops at Ai it
seemed at first that God's army was defeated, but,
alas! it proved to be only the plan or God by which,
he intended to bring forward the sudden destruc¬
tion of his enemies. There was a part of Joshua's
army to be stationed in the woods on the west side
of the city; that part was to be maneuvered by
Joshua himself. The other part of the army was
to be stationed back of the city, on the north side.
The only part of the army that was to be seen by
the enemies of God was that part on the west of
the city; that was under the direct command of
Joshua. It is also significant that that part of the
army in front of the city was a very small part of
the army. And at first sight, when the captain of
Ai saw them, they supposed that Israel would be
whipped before breakfast. But that day the exist¬
ence of the city of Ai was brought to an end by
the army of the living God.
So it is with the Christian army. This world is
the city of Ai; the wicked and enemies of Jesus
Christ are the soldiers of Ai. The Christians are
the soldiers of Jesus Christ, fighting on the south¬
ern side of this old city that has stood for more
than 7,000 years. Her resistance against the gos¬
pel has been long and stubborn. Thousands of good
generals under the leadership of the Holy Ghost
have gone down 011 this very old battlefield. Oh,
yes, blessed be God, victory is ours!
and His Twelve Apostles.
55
We are tola that there are almost 1,300,000,000
of believers in Jesus Christ over behind the city.
The army on the southern side is being fought under
the direction of the Holy Ghost. The blood-washed
army on the northern side is being fought under
iiA: direction of Jesus, my Saviour. Oh, what a
crash I am expecting when the army from heaven
and the army from earth meet, with sinners of
every age and condition in the center. We are told
that sheets of fire curled from the musketry in the
battle of Gettysburg and that the fall of Waterloo
was a fearful as well as humiliating scene, but when
sinners go down under the assault of Him who bled
and died for them what a fearful spactacle. But I
trust that when this old world shall be laid in ruin,
and when the good and pure of every age shall rise
up in terrestrial pomp to begin their new career in
that city made for our special pleasure, every one
of you will be there.
.And princes shall yet come out of Ethiopia.
These princes will do honor to the race from which
they come and will be a blessing to the nations to
which they go. All nations and people shall yet
rise up and call us blessed. It cannot now be said
of us that we are lazy, or irreligious, or unfaithful
to our friends. It has been proved that in war we
are brave, in religion we are earnest, in endurance
we have measured the climax. Oh, I like this state¬
ment, "Princes shall come out of Egypt." It re¬
minds me of that cold, windy December night when
Prince Jesus left his heavenly kingdom to come to
an earthly manger for us. None was so poor, none
was so rejected, none so hum hie. But in 1,800
years after his birth, he is the orb around which
the solar system of humanity revolves. Prince
Jesus is the beginning and end, the first and the
last. Let's all love him, let's praise him, let's all
56
Dedicated to Jesus Christ.
adore him. I say, and I know, it is the truth, when
his name is chief in our hearts, all of us, my breth¬
ren, then it will be that heaveh will begin on earth.
Amen.
CHAPTER XI.
SIGNS OF GOD'S PROMISE.
"And there was a rainbow round about the
throne, in sight like unto an emerald." Rev. 4:3.
In this chapter is presented to our notice the
splendid vision of heaven with which John was
favored. He is permitted to view the throne of God,
and have an imperfect vision of the great and august
Being who sat upon it. He is favored also with a
view of the splendor which surrounds the throner
which is expressed in the text, "And there was a
rainbow about the throne." After this he beheld
the four and twenty seats on which the elders were
silting with their golden crowns on. He saw also*
the four beasts around the throne a|ud heard their
"Amen, hallelujah!'' of perfect praise, for, day and
night, they worshipped God, saying, "Holy, Lord
God Almighty, who was and who is and who is
to come." He then heard the universal chorus of
praise proceeding from the four and twenty elders,
who fell down before the throne and cast their
crowns before the throne, saying, "Thou, Jesus, art
worthy!" But our remarks at this point bust be
confined to the appearance of the throne. "And
there was a rainbow about the throne."
We ought to be happy to be assembled^ my
friends, in this heavenly place, our old home of
worship, the church from which many a saint,
(57)
58
Dedicated to Jesus Christ
washed in the blood of your Saviour and mine, has
gone above to liymn forth the triumphant songs
sung by the four and twenty elders and the saints
of all the ages. Methinks, my brethren, the spirits
of some of them have returned to assist us in this
our annual revival, for, as you have seen, men and
women that have been hardened in sin have melted
away under the ray of the gospel light, as snow
would under a summer's sun. This old church also,
my friends, may be called the fort from which the
saints light sin. It is the fort from which Rev.
Nathan Ashaby fought, and the same one from
which Rev. James Foster fought, arid it is the same
one from which you are now fighting. God help us
to make a good fight. "And there was a rainbow
about the throne."
Again, I would ask you to let us view the nature
•and history of the rainbow. It is presented to us
in connection with the coveinant of God. After the
flood, God gave a promise to Noah, that he would
never again bring a flood of water upon the earth,
and hung up the rainbow as a sign or token of the
covenant thus made. There can be no doubt but
that the rainbow was seen from the beginning. It
was created for this very occasion. As it is the
natural effect of the rays of the sun falling on
drops of rain in a cloud atnd by the refraction and
reflection of those rays, God was pleased therefore
to select it as a token of that promise which He
had given to Noah as the representative of mankind
to the end of the world.
My dear hearers, there are many reasons for
which God appointed the rainbow as the sign of
his covenant. First, the rainbow is seen when the
fears of men might be justly excited on account of
expecting another flood. No doubt the posterity of
Noah, and the generations following him, knowing
by signs remaining that aoi awful flood had occurred,
and His Twelve Apostles.
59
whenever they beheld the black, threatening clouds
stretching* themselves across the heaven in gloomy
and portentious aspect, felt assurance in the prom¬
ise, the rainbow, which God suspended in the heav¬
en, reminding the excited nations that the earth
would not again be destroyed by a flood.
Again, I would have you notice that the rainbow
can never appear except when it is both cloudy and
sunshine, so that the darkened clouds are rendered
quite unalarming when the rays of sun fall upon
it to produce the bow. I call the sunshine that
produces the bow God's love, and I name the clouds
that produce the bow God's law. God's law, there-
lore, and His love, united in Jesus Christ to make
the salvation of a sinner as sure as the rainbow,
guarantee to the nations that the Avorld shall not
again be destroyed by water.
Again, we notice that however dark the dispen¬
sation of God's providence may appear during tho
sojourn of the Christian believer, His love is also
seen in that providence. In this, I believe, I will
on the last day have the sanction of all the blood-
bought millions that have gone on before and the
millions of, saints that are yet to be made happy
through the blood of Jesus Christ. And as we
meet in the center of the universe at the metropolis
of immensity, where the philosopher and the beg-
g.-ir shall join hand in hand, I think we may expect
a joyous outburst of
"All hail the power of Jesus' name,
Let angels prostrate fall;
Bring forth the royal diadem
And crown Him Lord of all,"
that will vibrate and revibrate through the rolling
HgCS.
My sinner friends, today may I expect you to
assist in the exercise of these praises that are to
60
Dedicated to Jesus Christ
last through all eternity? Is it too much for me
to ask you to be there? Lord, help, I pray.
Again, I would have you notice that the rainbow
is turned with the apex of its beautiful circular
curvature reaching upward toward heaven. It is
unstrung and without arrows, and here we have
learned that God, the Father, is in a state of recon¬
ciliation with our world. Yes, I thank God in
Jesus Christ, my Savior, that I am reconciled to
the law of God. I am able to tell you this morning
that Christ, our Saviour, never tired until every
whit of the edge of the law was broken off, atnd I
am able this morning to say to my friends and to
the enemies of Jesus Christ that if you will repent,
;and believe the gospel, the law has no terror for
you. You may walk on the edge of the very tool
that was made to cut your soul from God for the
.sins done in the body without fears.
Cod, my friends, could have appeared as a man
of war, with his bow turned the other way, and
his quiver full of arrows of vengeance ready to
pierce them through the hearts of the einemies of
His Son, but that this might not be so, His Son
stood forth and requested that the bow might be
turned toward himself so that every arrow might
land in His own heart, and that when the quiver
was exhausted it might appear in its present form
harmless and unstrung. God is at peace with man
on account of the blood of His Son. Oh, sinner,
can you believe it?
Next, my hearers, in the rainbow are exhibited
the seven prismatic colors (red, orange, yellow,
green, blue, indigo and violet). These are beauti¬
fully set forth in harmony of divine perfection in
the economy of grace. When God exhibited Him¬
self to Moses in His seven-fold glory, the seven
prismatic colors were characteristic of Him. He
and His Twelve Apostles.
61
was Lord, God, Jehovah, Almighty, Merciful, Gra¬
cious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and
truth, yet inflexibly just.
All these are harmoniously presented in the per¬
son of Christ in His redemption of man. My breth¬
ren, watch his marvelous power to save the utmost
till nolle can sin no more; his mercy to the fallen
and the unfortunate. Oh, tell me what would the
poor and the needy, the sick, the distressed, the
prisoners do in a world where there was no Christ?
Notice his grace to the unworthy. His longsuffer-
ing with his enemies. Why, for eighteen hundred
years Christ's patience with his enemies has made
them really daring. We catonot afford to forget
his goodness to all; and more than all, His justice
in giving up His own life freely and without a
murmuring word, for as guilty rebels as we.
Again I would have you notice that the
rainbow appears to unite heaven and earth. This
is what Jesus did. This scheme of redemption is
God, in Jesus Christ, my Saviour, reconciling the
world to Himself. I am struck with awe, my
hearers, when I contemplate the supernatural grow¬
ing up of the great mountain system of this coun¬
try. 1 am called to wronder when I view the whole
cosmological world, in its relation to man, and its
Creator, but the scheme would strain Omniscience,
Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, is, it seems
to me, the mightiest work of God. Well may we
exclaim with the preacher, How may we escape, is:
we neglest so great a salvation? It seems to me
t,iat such a scheme would strain eternal ability.
And there was a rainbow round about the throne,
in sight like unto an emerald. The rainbow in this
text, as you will notice, is about the throne. This
indicates that all the attributes and perfections are
under its influence. It binds all together. Hence
62
Dedicated to Jesus Christ
the apostles advise that we may come boldly to a
throne of grace. This is, indeed, enough to over¬
whelm us, enough to excite our fears and enough
to awake our sleeping joys. But it seems to me
that this text would bring joy and gladness even
to the the vile and unbelieving, and the sinner,
when he remembers that there is a rainbow about
the thro,ne. I think that the rainbow we see ex¬
panding the heavens is only the shadow of the
rainbow that is about the throne. The rainbow
about the throne reminds God, our Heavenly
Father, of the covenant with Noah, though he needs
no reminder, and reminds man of God's covenant
with him. Oh! one of the chief attractions of
heaven to the battle-scarred soldier, as he leaves
the lipid of carnage, and passes up the shining way,
passes through the gates of pearl, meets loved
ones that have gone on before; I tell you, I think
one of the chief attractions will be the rainbow
about the throne. Oh, what will I do when I* see
it? I wonder if we will be permitted to touch it!
Again, we will notice that the rainbow about the
throne is like an emerald. The meaning, my dear
friends, is that the beautiful green color of the
emerald was the chief and leading appearance it
presented. It teaches, first, the freshness, purity
and eternity of the blessing of God's grace. Though
thousands and thousands of years have passed away
since the contemplated blessings of the New Testa¬
ment dispensation were determined upon and con¬
trived, vet its powers, its sweetness, its glowing
color of emerald is as fresh today as when it first
entered the mind'of God.
Among these present this morning there are those
who have had long nights of sorrow, days of dis¬
appointments, friends who have forsaken you,
enemies who have rejected you, but, oh! as T con-
and His Twelve Apostles.
63
template the joys of the hope of heaven, I declare
that the winds of adversities that have been blow¬
ing against the believers' best interest for so many
centuries will suddenly turn in upon us ten thou¬
sand hallelujahs in their favor, and the millennial
dawn shall meet millions of waves of glory to God,
and about the throne we will hear and see the four
and twenty elders,' and the blood-washed throng,
as they cast their crowns at Jehovah's feet, and
cry, "Worthy is the Lamb oince slain." And the
rainbow was about the throne.
I - ....
!■- ^ ■■■ - ■ ■ v ■■■ ' ■ - - ■■
Dr. Stokes' ride from Jerusalem to Nazareth and Hebron
CHAPTER XII.
ON THE MOUNTAIN OF TEMPTATION.
Text—"Again the devil taketh him up into an
exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the
kingdoms of the world, and the glories of them;
and saith unto him, All these things will I give
thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." (Matt.
4:8, 9.)
;N tlie midst of these blessed surround-
j( ings, we will go direct from this church
to the heavenly mountain sceneries. My
text puts us right in the heavenly moun-
I tains. We wish, this morning, on this
heavenly excursion of words and thoughts, to take
you through five of the heavenly mountains. Oh,
what an opportunity it is! Bless the Lord for the
privileges such as we have and such as we are about
to enjoy.
We will notice first the mountain of Temptation;
then the mountain of Sinai; then the mountain
of Ararat; then the mountain of Transfiguration;
then the mountain of Calvary.
After the baptism of Jesus he went directly to
the wilderness, where the final conflict betweefr
right and wrong, between hell and heaven, between
Satan and himself, wps to take place. My text
(65^
66
Dedicated to Jesus Christ
says, if you notice, that the devil took Jesus into
an exceeding high mountain; yes, high enough in
the mountains so that he could get a clear view
of all the surrounding countries. From this moun¬
tain could be seen the fertile valleys, the rippling
streams, the rolling rivers—yes, and all the beauties
of Judea. What a mighty, Satanic proposition is
made to the King of Saints for our souls! Hear
this impenitent language of his Satanic majesty.
He says to Jesus, "Fall down and worship me, amd
r will give thee all the beautiful rivers, all the
laughing lakes, all the bending trees, and all the
fertile valleys.*'
But, thanks be unto God, at this critical moment,
when our salvation was in the balance, Jesus was
able to say to him, as I hope all of His feeble
brothers and sisters may be able to say, "Get be¬
hind Me, Satan; thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy
God!" Lord Jesus, Master, be pleased to come to
our rescue in our hour of trouble and sore temp¬
tation, and bring us out triumphant as Thou didst
come out Thyself from the wilderness!
The mountain of Temptation and the mount of
Sinai, the next mountain, are less than 100 miles
apart. But the peaks of these two mountains pre¬
sent quite a different aspect. The mountain of
Temptation, of which my text speaks, is a lonely,
solitary mount, where there was not a note of re¬
deeming love sung. Jesus is alone in a great battle
for the I'ight.
Oil Sinai the scene changes. Christ is not
there. God himself on dear old Sinai is speaking
out a law that the world has never heard of nor
dreamed of before. Oh, yes; it was from the
heights of old Sinai that the children of Israel
saw themselves totally enraptured because of the
pillars of smoke and the flashes of lightning and
and His Twelve Apostles.
67
tlie roar of thunder that was goiiig on while Moses
was in conversation with God and getting the law.
Oh, the law was written with a pen of lightning
and a handle of thunder. The paper was a stone.
Every indication of Mount Sinai is unmistakably
identified with the wrath of God kindled against
you and me. We leave the Mount of Sinai with
our heads bowed, our hearts sad, our hopes blighted.
Lord Jesus, Master, wilt thou help these saints, old
and young, as they ride on the train of faith, hope
and love through these heavenly mountains. May
they not only see God in His vengeance, but find
Ilim in His infinite love! His infinite love is de¬
monstrated right here on the next mountain, Mount
Ararat, where the seed of the human race is saved
from the mightiest deluge of all time. Yes, as I
pass by old Ararat this morning with these hun¬
dreds of saints before me, riding over the bosom
of the deep in the airship of God's everlasting love,
propelled by the engine of faith, we say to this old
ark, to Noah and his three sons and their wives,
look out into the bosom of the deep and say to all
comers and goers, fear God and keep His command¬
ments, for this is the whole duty of man.
And now, brethren and sisters, we come to the
most beautiful scene of our entire trip through
these heavenly mountains. My Lord and my God,
what exasperating glories come to our view as we
near the summit of the Mount of Transfiguration!
Some years ago I passed through a tunnel 33 miles
long in the mountains of Stwitzerland; the danger
was so great and the tunnel was so dark that it
took three hours to pass through it. But, oh, my!
the beauties that were dashed into one's face as he
emerged from the tunnel! We have been passing
through the tunnel of the Temptatious of Jesus;
we have had to pass through the tunnel of Sinai
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Dedicated to Jesus Christ.
and the law; we have seen in the dark and dismal
scene dangerous whirlpools and precipices below.
But, thank God, we are now assembled with Christ,
Peter, James and John. Here in this assembly on
this heavenly mountain are Moses and Elijah, who
have been living in heaven 1,500 years. Moses has
returned from a visit to earth and to turn over
the law to Him who kept it. Elijah had come to
turn over the books of the prophets to Him who
had ordered and written them. What glory and
grandeur must have covered Mount Moriah with
Peter and John as a delegation from earth repre¬
senting humanity in all its frailty and weakness.
And Moses and Elijah, a delegation from heaven
representing all the glory and grandeur of the
celestial world. I want to speak on the horrors and
the blessings that we derived from that battle which
took place on Calvary. But I must refrain. I
must close.
Ma}' the Lord make this mountain trip profitable
to you is the prayer of yours for the kingdom.
CHAPTER XIII,
THE SANCTITY OF BAPTISM.
Text: "Then Peter said unto them, repent and
be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive
the gift of the Holy Ghost."—Acts 2:38.
E might note that baptism is a command ;
it is a doctrine and it has had the sanc¬
tion of the three persons of the Godhead.
For convenience, many of our brethren
of other faiths have attempted to place
as little significance and importance to the doc¬
trines of baptism as possible. Why they should do
this is indeed a mystery, for it seems to me that
every true Christian wants only Christ's will to
be done. I desire, believers, to talk to your heads,
and to your heads only; to your highest and best
judgment. Now, baptism is an act which carries
with it certain emblems, the truth of which we
cannot set aside. I note that in a great many pas¬
sages the Holy Ghost is represented as coming upoto
one after baptism, but in a great majority of case«
repentance and baptism preceded the descent of thp
Hoi y Ghost. Note the language of the text, "Re-
pent and be baptized, every one of you. for t.lw
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Dedicated to Jesus Christ
remission of sins, and then ye shall receive the gift
oi' the lloly Ghost." Here, dear baptized believer*,
we are taught in this pentecostal sermon that re¬
pentance, faith and baptism were to precede the
dcs( ent of the Holy Ghost. Great Holy Ghost,
mighty superintendent of the work of the church,
giant unto us, thy children, the ability to believ#
thy -word without any addition thereto, or subtrafr
lion from it!
I would have you note also that in Matt. 3:16, 17,
it says: "And Jesus, when he was baptized, went
up straightway out of the water, and, lo, the
heavens were open, and he saw the spirit of God
descending like a dove and lighting upon him. And,
lo, a voice from heaven saying, This is my belove'5
Son in whom I am well pleased."
Here again we will note that in this blessed, oh!
yes, the most blessed of all beings, the center of
perfection, the hope of eternal life, before the do-
scent of the Holy Ghost upon Him he had to bo
baptized and baptized in the river, and it wa#
after this baptism' that the dove, the emblem of
the Holy Ghost, lit upon Him and the voice from
heaven said, '"This is my beloved Son in whom I
am well pleased."
Next, we would note the act of baptism. It
must represent a birth; for Jesus said, "Except a
man is born of the water and the Spirit he cannot
enter the kingdom of heaven." It must represent
a burial, for Paul said: "Therefore we are buried
with Him by baptism into death; that like as Christ
was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we should wTalk in newness of life.
"For if we have been planted together in the like¬
ness of his death, we shall also be in the likeness
of his resurrection. Baptism, therefore, must have
four significations. First, to be born of of the wa-
and His Twelve Apostles.
71
ter; second, a planting; third, a resurrection;
fourth, a burial.
Note, ray brethren, that Paul said that if Christ
be not risen from the dead our faith is in vain. The
Jews sought to discredit the truth of His resurrec¬
tion. No truth in the Bible is of more importance,
therefore, than the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead. Therefore, the Baptist churches have
insisted through the ages that each one of its
members must be buried in the water and brought
again therefrom to signify their burial to sin £nd
their subsequent resurrection from the dead. No
other act in the Christian churQh will do this so
completely as the act of baptism by immersion.
In the second place, baptism signifies and is an
emblem of the believer's death and burial to sin
and his subsequent resurrection to a new life. Oh,
if, as v/e say, the believer must be dead and buried
to sin; what emblem could most fittingly designate
this most wonderful truth than the act of baptism
when the candidate is put dofwn in the water and
brought back therefrom? Pouring water on one's
head, or sprinkling water on one can never typify
or signify a burial to sin and a resurrection to a
new life. Our beloved brother, Paal, in his letter
to the Romans, declared that if we have been
planted together with Christ, or like Christ, we shall
also be like Him in his resurrection.
My beloved brethren, when anything is planted
it means that it must be covered up and that nature
and eternal wisdom must bring it back more beau¬
tiful, more plenteous than when planted. Now, can
pouring water upon a believer illustrate or signify
a planting? Can amy act in the church illustrate
the meaning of the Apostle Paul more than the act
of baptism, for if we have been planted together
in the likeness of His death, we shall also be in the
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Dedicated to Jesus Christ
likeness of His resurrection. We will note again
that we must have some act in the church which
illustrates and signifies the believer's dedication
ajid consecration of his or her whole self to the Lord
and his cause.
The act of sprinkling water on the head or pour¬
ing water on the head will simply signify at most
the consecration or dedication of that part- of the
body on which the water falls, which is the head;
therefore, if Ave say that pouring water or sprinkling
water upon one's head was baptism, we would have
simply the consecration or dedication of the head
of the believer to the Lord. The teaching of Jesus
Christ to his whole church is that its members must
be wholly dedicated and consecrated to the Lord,
and not the head only, hence we have, the very
significant passage found Heb. 10:22.
''Let us draw near with a true heart in full as¬
surance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with
pure water." Here two truths are set forth: one
is, that the heart must be sprifnkled from an evil
conscience and bodies washed in pure water. Evi¬
dently this must mean the work of the Holy Ghost,
for the very significant reason that it is a work to
be done on the heart and mail cannot get to an¬
other's heart to sprinkle it. The other statement
is that the body must be washed in pure water.
Here is that emblem of the dedicatiotn of the be¬
liever's whole body to the Lord, for duty, worship
and service. Lord Jesus, may the Holy Ghost lay
the truths bare to every inquiring soul, is the
prayer of thy servant.
In the next place, the Bible is pregnant with
the truth of the final resurrection of the saints. Oh,
yes, that doctrine of the exhilarating effect upon
the believer through all ages. We have seen sick-
and His Twelve Apostles.
73
ness, !we have seen death, we have seen burial, we
have heard of the judgment aaid the resurrection;
these dreadful truths are pregnant with signs of
everlasting life because of the hope they give us
of the final reunion of our loved ones who have
just gone on before us.
Tell me, dear Christians, a more beautiful emblem
of the final resurrection of the saints than this
baptism. Behold, a candidate at the baptismal
fountain, with arms folded atid unconsciously as
one is put down into the water they close their
eyes and cease to breathe, which is a beautiful
emblem of death ,• and unconsciously when they
are brought back from, the watery grave they
breathe and open their eyes. Oh, who is it in this
audience that can truthfully say that baptism is
not the divine plan ? Let us sing:
Lord, in humble, sweet submission,
Ilere we meet to follow thee;
Trusting in thy great salvation,
Which alone can make us free.
CHAPTER XIV.
A VIEW OF THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM.
"And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great
and high mountain and showed me the great city,
the holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven from
God."—Rev. 21:10.
Y dear friends, our text in one mighty
leap from e^rth takes us to heaven.
We stand upon this Himalaya of
heaven, and from these heavenly Alps
we take a faithful glimpse of the vast
past, of the glorious present and of the stupendous
future.
On this mountain of God, where the soles of our
feet now rest, there are no thorn trees to prick our
spiritual feet; no unneeded branches to hinder our
spiritual flight on our way from world to world,
from mountain to mountain, and from glory to
glory.
We will rest on this mountain in the midst of
the flower gardens of everlasting blooming, and
of eternal grandeur and of a fragrance that is de¬
lightful to inhale while eternity lasts.
Oh, my God in heaven! as we rest here for a
moment, and that moment te(n thousand years, we
will with telescopic precision view the blessings of
God! Oh, it seems to me that all the blessings of
the past and of' the future have gathered about
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Dedicated to Jesus Christ
this Appalachian of God, consecrated to make the
soul happy on its new arrival from the world of
sorrow. But before we leave for other worlds,
other dominions, other glories, what must we say
in regard to the eternity of these joys?
From our present surroundings we are convinced
that all material matter will decay, and that
time itself must die in the evening to give eternity
a morn to be born. But the joys of the soul sa^ed
through the precious blood of my and your Lord
shall last till spirits die; till God sleeps, till the
cross be forgotten.
We are also told in this text tliat one of the ob¬
jects for which the spirit takes the soul to the
mountain of God is to give a more complete view
of the heavenly city. Oh, God, my Saviour, how
ca,n we who are by nature sinners, contemplate the
happiness and the grandeur of this heavenly town?
This moving town is the home of God, my and
your Saviour. It is the home of the Holy Ghost,
the city in which the matrimonial ceremony of the
church to Jesus Christ shall take place, aud after
that marriage, in which all the universe shall be
interested, Christ and His wife, the church, shall
live there.
This is the metropolis of the universe; it is the
center of all centers; it is the parlor of God and
the universe. Around this is the plaza upon which
the redeemed shall play till God is dead.
Yes, we will also notice that this city is a mov¬
ing city; that in order to furnish complete rest to
the entire saints of all ages and at the same time
give them a prairie view of all that the triune per¬
sons have made, the city will take the saints around ;
they shall sit in rocking chairs of emerald; they
must play on harps whose instruments are con¬
structed from topaz.
and His Twelve Apostles.
77
I must not stop here to consider the rapidity
with which this city of God moves, because I know
not and cannot know.
"We are told in our present world that stars and
worlds are passing each other at a rate or! a thou¬
sand thirty-four-tenths miles an hour, and we call
this great speed; but, my Lord, when the world
above bs freighted only with immortal souls the
speed methilik^ will be increased a hundred times.
In that throng and in that city may be found
the souls of those who for years lived amid the
hurricanes of storms, difficulties and sorrows. We
will spend our eternities sometimes amidst the
mountains of God and sometimes in the city noted,
because it's the home of God, the home of all the
saints and the metropolis of the universe.
"The walls, are all of precious stones,
Most glorious to behold;
The gates are richly set with pearls.
The streets are paved with gold.'7
CHAPTER XV.
SERMON DELIVERED BY DR. STOKES IN
LEBANON HILL NEAR BEIRUT, SYRIA.
Text: Gen. 49:33: "And when Jacob had made
an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his
feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was
gathered unto his people."
IIILE I am in the midst of the glorious
mountains of Lebanon, I think I must
speak, I must write. I found myself in the
quarantine prison praying' and 'waiting
for my ten days to end, that I might be
able to go at once and visit the sacred spot where
Jesus died for me. While I am separated bv^ fourteen
thousand miles of land and, water from those I
love, and locked with strangers, my spirit seems
to be in the midst of forty thousand glories. The
blessed sun seems to rise this morning with a new
lustre and infinite glory has peeped over the hills
of Lebanon's mountains, bidding we welcome to this
blessed country. These are the Mountains of Abra¬
ham, mountains of Moses, mountains of Isaac, and,
blessed be to God, mountains of Jacob, of which my
text briefly speaks. Oh, this country! It seems to me,
is made beautiful and glorious because Jesus has
walked and lived in. it. In front of me is the his-
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Dedicated to Jesus Christ
toric island of Cyprus. At my back is ttie old
Mediterranean. Jerusalem is also in front of me.
Dear Lord, I hope and pray that Jerusalem is in
front of all who read these words and who may not
be content with anything short of heaven.
I wish you to notice first that Jacob gave to his
boys as a last gift that which every parent can
give to his or her children. He was able, by close
communication and constant association with God,
not only to advise his children, but to tell them
of their station in life and what should befall each
one of them during the journey of life.
Oh! Lord Jesus Christ, my only Saviour and
precious King of Zion! the church, give unto Thy
servant a proper appreciation of w7hat Thou hast
done for him, so that he may bow iti humble sub¬
mission to all of Thy will; so that he may properly
teach others, and constrain them by Thy great grace
to love and serve Thee.
We may also notice that, when our mothers and
fathers walk uprightly before God, they are en¬
abled to tell their children just what will befall
them, and guard them correctly against the evil
telndencies of their natures. Jacob draws a por¬
trait of the destinies of each of his sons in the
49tli chapter of Genesis, so clear that they could
not be mistaken as to what would be their fate in
life and what would befall them therein. We learn
also that those who have talked and walked with
God during life are not afraid of Him in death.
There is Jacob, commanding the family and telling
them good-bye as though he were going on a
pleasure trip to the sea. Old, but conscious of his
acceptance with God. Oh! the old man's doom in
the woods where he had escaped from the wrath
of his own wrong doings was now budding into
clusters of glory; shining in the phenomenal glory
A Scene in The Holy Lands.
and His Twelve Apostles.
81
as he approached the throne of his long desire!
Alleluia! Praise the Lord!
We may notice again that Christianity denotes
activity. No laziness in religion. Notwithstand¬
ing the old age of Jacob and his extreme sickness,
he evidently was sitting upon the bed with his feet
out; for when be had finished commanding he had
to take his feet in the bed before reclining. Oh,
my Christian friends, I want to call your special
attention to the great activity of this old Christian
giant—stupendous activity; feet must be taken into
the bed just before death. Dear believers in Christ
Jesus, are you active or are you passive? Are you
content with what you have done or are you anxious
to finish the race you have begun? Here also is
the figure of one going to sleep—taking- his feet into
the bed. Yes, believers, when separation and walk¬
ing are done, let us, from a life of active service,
take our feet in a bed of joy and rest a while.
As I sit and write, I see before me in this Turk¬
ish quarantine station almost every nation under
heaven represented. I see the proud American,
the highly-civilized Englander, the half-naked Turk
and the naked Egyptian. Civilization with all of
its attendant beauties, is before me, and heathenism,
with all its baneful consequences, is now about my
vision. I saw them this morning oil their knees
to Mohammed. My Lord and my God, the work
yet to be done by the Christian people of the world!
I only wish that the great Christian family of
America could see this sight that is before me. The
fate which Jacob predicted to others in the 17th
verse of the 49th chapter of Genesis shall certainly
come to this people. I see heathen on their knees,
heathen on their faces, heathen on their bellies,
heathen on their backs. But none worshipping
Christ! It is wonderfully strange that heathen
82
Dedicated to Jesus Christ.
worship should be so near the scene of Calvary;
but nevertheless, strange as it may seem, it is true;
and in the midst of Mohammed's prosperity, now
and then 1 would find an old Zion traveller whom,
no powers of earth can get to forsake the cross.
He says,
Give joy or grief, give ease or pain,
Take life and friends away ;
But let me find them all again
In that eternal day.
Notice, again, that my text says that after he
had taken Iiis feet in the bed he was gathered to
his people! Oh, listen! Gathered to his people!
This means the family reunion. Family meeting.
He comes at last with a band of angels to meet
the battle-scarred soldiers. There comes Abraham,
with Sarah, his loving companion. Watch them
shake hands. Listen to the heavenly conversation.
My Lord, the ecstacy and joy, as the reunited
family turns from Jacob's sick bed to great celestial
glory. Oh, pearly gates! Oh, waiting crowns!
Dear jasper walls! How long before we shall
meet our families on the heavenly plains?
CHAPTER XVI.
OUR PULPIT.
"Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He
shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before
mean men."—Prov. 22:29.
HE ability and influence of King Solomon,
the writer of this passage, is sufficient,
I think, to call out the most profound
and intelligent investigation of this and
all succeeding generations. Bnt to this,
my own congregation, his words will cause peculiar
consideration, not only because of his unique ability,
bestowed upon him by God, the Divine, but because
he is more closely allied to us in color if not in
ability.
I am aware that learned divines have made this
passage of Scripture the arena for great theological
battles, and have appeared willing to extort and
ruin a part of the Scripture to get this and a few
preceding centuries to believe that Solomon was
not a black man. But the Bible is the supreme
standard by which all human conduct, creeds and
opinions should be tried; and to this I invite your
attention. In the Song of Solomon 1:5, we have
these words: "I am black, but comely, 0 ye daugh¬
ters of Jerusalem." In the same chapter $nd the
6th verse we have: '' Look not upon me, because I
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Dedicated to Jesus Christ
am black, because the sun hath looked upon me."
I learn first from the life and ability of Solomon,
this question of color so far as races are concerned,
and in view of the passage of Scripture
which says that "God , hath made of one
blood all nations of men to dwell upon all
the face of the earth,'' anw when we with bowed
heads and hearts turn to God in reverence, Vith
prayer and devotion, by the eye of faith, the words
"Our Father which art in heaven" come to the
man, the race, or the nation and strike terror to
their hearts like a clap of thunder in a clear sky,
and ring out the eternal will of God in the recog¬
nition of all men as his sons, from this the univer¬
sal brotherhood of man appears.
Dear brethren, I declare unto you this day that
our troubles and disadvantages are not on account
of our color, and I declare with equal emphasis and
with a truthfulness that it is on account of our
condition. Need I say that Solomon warned the
great men and women of Israel against the sin of
discrimination on account of color, and gave as his
reason that the sun had looked upon him? J see
he meant that the sun of education and intelligence
had looked upon him. Black, as he might have
been, his education brought together all of the
scattered tribes of Israel, left so by his father, David,
when he took his flight to the world of celestial
brightness and terrestrial glory to play on that
harp that was to make shouting happy, the host of
the church triumph.
I say, my brethren, that it was the ability of Solo¬
mon that united these forces, scattered hither and
thither here on earth by the loss of influence of his
father, David, and with that ability he built the
greatest and most costly house of worship that God
ever had since or before.
and His Twelve Apostles.
I would remark in the third place that for the
sun of education to have the proper effect upon an
individual, race or nation, that individual, race or
nation must stay under its vertical rays until the
heat has penetrated the whole body
Permit me here to remark with regret, that one
of the causes of the suffering in our race is too
little education in the leadership. 0 would the
Lord God, who is our Father, grant unto us a race,
faithful, able and efficient leaders to. look after
the affairs of a very great and oppressed people.
Are you aware, my brethren, that there are over
twelve millions of us in the United States of
America? And with few exceptions, our states¬
men are not the equal of the average school boy
in education. I have looked with fruitless anticipa¬
tion for ten years, hoping that God would give us a
meteor that would rise, in the political sky, and
with a finger pointing as unmistakably as the finger
of Isaiah to the birth of Christ, to the way of our
deliverance from under political and civil oppres¬
sion, Dut in vain.
Again, we would consider that the sun of wealth
shone down upon Solomon. If we would break
the cnains of legal oppression; if the hand of politi¬
cal misuse is to be lifted up and held up from the
colored people, money, education aiid kindness
must do it.
It was not until the Queen of Sheba had walked
up the glorified flight of marble steps into the
temple where the cherubs of golden wings lapped
around the altar of pedestal beauty, and the floor
partly overlaid with ivory and partly with gold,
and with hand clasped tightly in hand, standing
before an intelligent Israelitish audience that she
exclaimed with Egyptian logic and eloquence: ''The
half has never been^told." And when we, as a
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Dedicated to Jesus Christ
people, by thrift, economy and education build
tempies of beauty, we may expect a like exclama¬
tion from those who oppose us—"The half has
ne^er been told."
I would like you also to notice that his text calls
special attention to the diligent mail, and also this
man must be diligent in his own business. In our
race it is no unusual thing to find a person who
will be attentive to business for days, months and
sometimes for years; but very frequently it is the
busi.aess of some one else. But the text says, that
when you find a man diligent in his own business
he shall stand before kings. That is, his name
shall be classed among the nobles of the land; and
as the government honors its sons by making them
ministers to other nations, so will God honor ns,
his sons, by exalting us to positions to the nations,
if we will be diligent in our own business.
We would notice again that organization and
confidence constitute the very life of greatness.
Israel was great, first, because of the great con¬
fidence they had in Solomon. May we not, with
bowed heads and reverential awe, go before God
the Father of all nations, the Creator of the cos-
mological universe, and ask him for that confidence
in each other that is so necessary to our well-being,
our security and prosperity.
0, earth, help! 0 God, help, and answer we be¬
seech thee, these feeble petitions.
Again, we would notice that it was the organi¬
zation of tribes in Israel that made them so easily
handled and so powerful. I would here remark
that we have as a race too many disconnected, dis¬
organized societies in existence for no other purpose
than to bury the dead and sing over the graves
of the dead. We need societies, led by thrift
and His Twelve Apostles.
and intelligence, to look after and take care of
the living.
Friends, I am over-anxious that when life's jour¬
ney is ended and we have gone the rounds of duty,
sailed over life's tempestuous waters, we will stop
only in the haven of rest in the city of God, in
the sea of glass mingled with fire.
But, we need, my brothers, organization, intelli¬
gent and honest leadership to lead twelve million of
us to the wharf of our eternal departure.
Let, us pray every step of the way. I notice,
my dear congregation, that you are not giving to
our merchants, our doctors, our real estate' men,
our blacksmiths, our ladies who are in the dress¬
making profession your entire financial support.
May I ask it of you? Other races are doing it.
Let us beg you, let me persuade you, let me im¬
plore you, for the sake' and safety of the rising
generation, encourage our people by giving them
your patronage in all of their honorable professions.
"We would notice again in our text that great
diligence requires great tact. Tact has been de¬
fined as being the judicious use of our power at
the right time.
Paul, the apostle, when at the judgment bar of
Felix, brought forth these immortal words, from
Agrippa: " Go thy way for this time and at a more
convenient season I will call for thee." Dr. Guthrie
says that tact is one of the qualities of great minds
and makes them master of all situations. No com¬
bination of circumstances so complex and embar¬
rassing but that it can control and regulate.
One of the greatest triumphs of Daniel 0'Conn ell
was in the management of a witness, during which
he revealed wonderful tact. He was employed by
parties interested in a will, which they suspected
was fraudulent, to investigate the matter at the time
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Dedicated to Jesus Christ
it was being proven. He noticed that one of the
witnesses repeated several times the -words: "That
iife was in the testator when he signed the will."
Now, said O'Connell, will you siwear that there was
not a live fly in the dead man's mouth when his
hand was placed on the will? The witness, terror-
stricken at the discovery of the iniquitous scheme,
fell on his knees and confessed that it was so.
Precisely is the same quality needed in practical
affairs of life. A business man comes into contact
with almost insurmountable difficulties daily, but
before the fires of tact, mountains melt away. Dear
brethren and sisters, I think that our men and
women need more tact. I think that my subject
will permit me also to speak to you on self-reliance.
No element in character is more essential in the
building up of a race than self-reliance. The eagle,
when teaching her young- to fly, as they sit on the
edge of the nest, fearful to venture into the abyss
below, forces them from the home that has shel¬
tered them so long and compels tliem to use their
weak, untried wings, and soon come strength and
courage for the lofty and prolonged flight. Daniel
Webster, four years before his death, wrote to his
grandson, saying: Remember that you cannot learn
without your own efforts. All the teachers in the
world can never make a scholar of you, if you do
not apply yourself with all your might. Brethren,
encouraged by your kindness and by your patron¬
age our men and women, whose mark to honor and
fame, through ardent labor and self-sacrfice, is set
in the sun.
It is encouraging to know that some of the preju¬
dices that have been harbored and cherished by
the opposite race are gone forever. And blessed
be God, that whatever is left of them is left in the
hot furnaces of the prayers and sorrows of our
and His Twelve Apostles.
89
mothers and fathers, who prayed the chain of slav¬
ery from around five million of our necks fifty years
ago. And I stand before the milk-white throne of
God today and declare in your presence, my breth¬
ren, that the feet of prayer are as fleet as they
were in the years gone by. And my soul rises as I
speak to you, dear friends, and peeps out of the
window of time, and declares that the prayers of
my mother and your mother, of my father and your
father, shall bring on the millennial dawn, when
the lion and the lamb shall lie down together and
the little child shall lead them both.
Again, I would invite your attention to the price
of success. Success demands to be bought with a
price. It is stern and unyielding in its require¬
ments ; inflexible in its terms, and exacts the utmost
farthing. It costs application, diligence, self-sacri¬
fice and enthusiasm.
The blandishment of pleasure must be disre¬
garded ; the allurements of fashionable society must
be avoided; the quiet retirement of solitude court¬
ed. A political leader in British parliament fifty
years ago said: "During the weeks which followed
my taking of office, I did not close my eyes for
anxiety." When Edmoind Burke was making one
of his wonderful speeches in Parliament, one of his
brothers was standing by and said: "I always said
that Ned had all the brains in our family." But
shortly afterwards said: "I see how it is now,
while we were sleeping and playing he was working
and studying."
It is only those who are willing to tread the
weary road of self-denial and toil that need expect
to succeed in any line of effort. The great multi¬
tude, whose object in life is to gratify their desires
and who live for mere enjoyment, iwill soon pass
away and soon their memories will be forgotten.
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Dedicated to Jesus Christ.
Ia the immortal allegory of Bunyan, the great
dreamer once stood at the door of a palace, the en¬
trance to which was disputed by armed men, and
cried: "Come in, come in, eternal glory thou shalt
win.77 And soon the Pilgrims saw approaching a
resolute man, who drew his sword with such effort
that the opposing forces gave way and in triumph
he entered t he palace. Thus it is in life, the temple
of honor is beset with legions of difficulties aind ob¬
stacles, and who would enter must draw his sword
and with brave and resolute spirit battle valiantly
against each opposing foe, until entrance into the
palace is obtained.
Again, I would remark that faithful labor, per¬
formed in the right spirit, will be requited in the
other world if not this. Jesus Christ, our Lord and
Master, paid the world a thirty-three years' visit.
While here he worked at the carpenter's trade and,
at the gospel helm, he stood night and day. Once
when a hard day's labor had been performed, as
the light of the brilliant sun was gently wasting
away, he remarked, to those who had watched the
diligence with which he had pursued his calling,
saying: "The birds of the air have nests, the foxes
have holes in the ground, but the Son of man hath
not where to lay his head."
But, my eongregatiom, watch him on that ascen¬
sion morning, when in the midst of more than five
hundred of his brethren on the mountain of Olives,
when the time for settlement for labor had come,
see that cloud, with ap. angelic escort moving to¬
wards the skies. Now, listen to the songs, to the
hallelujahs as heaven bows with ecstacy and joy at
the return of the Lamb slain for the sins of many.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE WHO, HOW AND WHY WATER BAPTISM.
A Sermon Delivered by Dr. A. J. Stokes at the First
Baptist Church, August 21, 1898.
NTRODUCTION.—No one will deny that
1 water baptism is taught in the Scriptures.
Some of us differ as to the mode and
subject of baptism. We want to settle,
then, first of all, the element used. Jesus
said in Matt. 28:19, '' Go teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, Sojn and Holy
Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatso¬
ever I have commanded you: lo, I am ;with you al-
way, even unto the end of the world." This Scrip¬
ture teaches three things:
1. The Gospel must be taught to all nations.
2. The parties who were to do the teaching were
also to do the baptizing.
3. Teaching and baptizing were to be kept up
for all times.
Now if this baptism which was commanded by
our Lord is Holy Ghost baptism, then the teaching
also must be done by the Holy Ghost previous to
baptism, for it is evident that those who were com¬
manded to teach were also commanded to baptize.
If this is true then there is no need or use of
preachers. Now to take hold of the horn of the
dilemma and say that man must preach and the
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Dedicated to Jesus Christ
Holy Ghost do the baptizing will not do, because
he who was commanded to preach was also com¬
manded to baptize. We have several accounts of
Holy Ghost baptism in the Scriptures, and it is de¬
scribed so minutely that every one would recognize
Holy Ghost baptism today if they were to see it.
Those who received Holy Ghost baptism in the New
Testament spoke with tongues and performed mira¬
cles ; now if those who professed and received Holy
Ghost baptism will speak with tongues and perform
miracles, we will know that they have received the
Holy Ghost baptism without their telling us. As
causes produce like effects, as the cause of the
Apostles speaking with tongues and performing
miracles with the Holy Ghost baptism, then those
professing to have been baptized by the Holy
Ghost should do the same things. In Acts 10:47,
Peter said: "Who can forbid water, that these may
be baptized, seeing that they have received the
Holy Ghost as well as we?" Thus we see water
is the element to be used in baptizing for those
who have received the Holy Ghost, and not those
who have been baptized by the Holy Ghost.
Text.—Ephesians 4:5: One Lord, one faith, one
baptism.
I. The numeral adjective o!ne, in this text,
teaches us, in the Christian system, that there is
but one Lord for us to look to, and one faith in
this Lord, and one baptism in obedience to this
Lord we have faith in. Then the question arises,
Who ought to receive this one baptism? The New
Testament lays down certain requirements for the
subject of baptism to comply with before he or she
is a fit subject for baptism.
1. The subject must be taught the Gospel. Matt.
28:19: Go teach all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father, Son and Hoty Ghost.
and His Twelve Apostles.
93
2. They must gladly receive' what th.ey have been
taught. Acts 2:41: They that gladl}r received his
words were baptized.
3. Those who have repented of their sins. Acts
2:38: Then Peter said unto them, Repent, every
one of you and be baptized in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of your sins, and you shall
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
4. The subject must believe before baptism.
Mark 16:16: Go ye therefore into all the world and
preach the Gospel to every creature: he that be-
lieveth and is baptized shall be saved.
5. The subject must be old enough to arise and
be a party to his own baptism. Acts 22:15: Now
why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized.
6. The subject should be old enough to request
baptism. Acts 8:36: And as they went on their
way they came to a certain water. The eunuch
said, What doth hinder me to be baptized, seeing
here is water?
7. The subject must be old enough to walk to
his baptism. Acts 8 :38: Both Philip and the eujiuch
went down into the water, and he baptized him.
8. The subject must have received the Holy
Ghost before baptism. Acts 10 :47: And Peter said,
Who can forbid water that these may be baptized,
seeing that they have received the Holy Ghost as
well as we?
Now can a baby be taught the Gospel? No. Can
a baby gladly receive the Gospel? No. Can a
baby repent of his sins? No. Can a baby believe
on the Saviour Jesus Christ? No. Can a baby
arise and be baptized? No. Can a baby walk with
the administrator to his baptism? No. Can a baby
receive the Holy Ghost before he has repented and
believed the Gospel? No. Thus we see that babies
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Dedicated to Jesus Christ
cannot receive this one baptism of our text. Now
ought: a baby be baptized?
11. llow ought a person be baptized? There are
ten Scriptural requirements that water baptism
must meet in order for it to be Scriptural baptism.
1. Water is to be used. Acts 10:47: Who cain
forbid water that these may be baptized?
2. Much water is to be used. John 3:22, 23 :
John was in Enon near Salem baptizing because
there was much water, and the people came and
were baptized.
3. The candidate must be in water. Mark 1:5:
And were all baptized of him in the river Jordan,
confessing their sins.
4. Candidates must go down into the water. Acts
8 :38: Both Philip and the eunuch went down into
the water, and he baptized him.
5. The candidate must come up out of the water.
Mark 1:10: And straightway coming up out of the
water he saw the heavens open and the Spirit de¬
scending upon him.
6. The candidate must be buried in the act of
baptism. Romans 6:4: Therefore we are buried
with him by baptism into death.
7. The candidate must be planted in the likeness
of his death. Romans 6:5, For' if we have been
planted together in the likeness of his death, we
shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.
8. There must be a resurrection in the act of
baptism. Col. 2:12: Buried with him in baptisu.,
wherein ye are also risen with him through the
faith of the operation of God who hath raised him
from the dead.
!>. Baptism must symbolize a birth. Johh 3:5:
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily
1 say unto thee, except a man be born of water
and His Twelve Apostles.
95
and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of
God.
10. The whole body must be wet in the act of
baptism. Hebrews 10:22: Let us draw near in full
assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure
water.
Now let us apply the test.
1. If sprinkling water will meet these require¬
ments, then sprinkling is the Scriptural baptism.
Sprinkling, at best, can only meet the first of these
requirements. You do not have to have much water
to be' sprinkled. You do not have to be in the
water to be sprinkled. You do not have to go
doAvn into the water to be sprinkled. You do not
come up out of the water in sprinkling. You are
not buried in the act of sprinkling. You are not
planted in the likeness of Christ's death in sprink¬
ling. Sprinkling does not symbolize to the new
birth. You are not resurrected in the act of sprink¬
ling. Lastly, your whole body is not wet in the
act of sprinkling.
As sprinkling can meet only one of these require¬
ments, sprinkling cannot be the New Testament
baptism. So with pouring.
Now let us apply the test.
1. It requires water.
2. Much water.
3. Must be in the water.
4. Must go down into the water.
5. Must come up out of the (water.
6. You are buried in the act of immersion.
7. You are planted in the likeness of Christ's
death in the act of immersion.
8. It symbolizes the new birth.
9. You are resurrected in immersion.
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Dedicated to Jesus Christ
10. The whole body is wet in the act of iramer
si 01).
Now we see that immersion meets all the New
Testament requirements. Could this have happened
by chance? No. Then immersion is the one bap¬
tism commanded by the Lord, spoken of by the
Apostle Paul, and also by Peter.
ill. Objections answered.
Some will say, Do not the following Scriptures
t each affusion ? Ezek. 36 :25; Isa. 52 :15; Matt. 3 :11.
We will examine these Scriptures in the light of
honesty.
1. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you
and ye shall be clean from your filthi'ness and from
all your idols will I cleanse you. Ezek. 36:25. Now
1o whom is this language addressed? And what
temporal blessing promised to those to be sprinkled?
If you will read the preceding verse you will see
that those who were scattered among the brethren,
had to be brought back to their own land be¬
fore the sprinkling could be performed. Now if
this refers to water baptism, there are certain re¬
quirements the candidate must comply with before
he can receive this baptism.
1. He has to be away from .Judea.
2. He has to go back to Judea.
Now as we have nevr scattered among the
heathen, nor gathered to Jerusalem, how can we be
interested in this sprinkling, even if it does refer
to baptism? Again, this 36th chapter of Ezekiel
teaches that those who are to be sprinkled were to
live in the land of Palestine. "Verse 28:2. They
were to have no famine in this land. 3. God wiil
increase their men and their flocks. 4. Their waste
cities shall be filled with men.
Now I was in deed and in truth that this cele¬
brated text did refer to baptism-if all these bless-
Dr. Stokes1 ride to Bethlehem, Bethpage, the Dead Sea, Jericho and the Jordan.
and His Twelve Apostles.
97
in^s would follow. You can see from the above
thfct this Scripture has no reference whatever to
baptism. Ezekiel simply said to the Jews, in their
captivity, that God would restore them to their own
land and purify them with the water of separation
—a Jewish rite of cleansing.
2. So shall he sprinkle many nations;, the kings
shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had
not been told them shall they see; and that which
they had not heard shall they consider. Isaiah
52 :15.
This sprinkling was to be done by the Lord Jesus
Christ himself. Now if it can be shown that Christ
sprinkled or baptized, then this Scripture refers
to Christian baptism, but it is evident that our
Lord did not baptize. John 4:2.
Jesus baptized not, but his disciples. Therefore,
this text does not refer to water baptism; if it does
it is yet to be fulfilled.
The plain meaning of this fifteenth verse is told
in the fourteenth verse of the same chapter, "As
many were astonied at thee; his visage was marred
more than any man, and his form more than the
sons of men."
Now the connection, so shall he sprinkle many
nations; he shall do them just as they did him; re¬
ferring to the retribution God would take against
them because of the crucifying of his own Son; see
Isaiah 63 :6. And I will tread down the people in
my ajiger; I will make them drunk in my fury. I
will bring them dowin to the earth.
3. Matt. 3 .11. I indeed baptize you with water.
Now does this verse teach baptism by affiisioai, or
the application of the water to the subject, or the
subject to the water, as it is claimed?
Let us see. The American part of the revisers
of the New Testament in 1881 insisted on tranjlat-
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Dedicated to Jesus Christ
ing the Greek word en wherever it occurred with
water baptism in instead of with.
"What do people immerse with, molasses, whiskey,
oil or water? Every person the Baptists have ever
immersed they have done so with water; if you
know of an exception, please tell us of it.
4. The expressions of pouring the Holy Ghost,
falling of the Spirit, shedding forth of the Spirit, or
Holy Ghost baptism do not teach the mode of bap¬
tism to be by sprinkling or pouring, for the Holy
Ghost baptism as mentioned in the New Testament
took possession of the entire Spirit, and not a por¬
tion of the Spirit; besides, when the word baptism
is used in connection with pouring the Spirit out
upon the people, it is used to show the design and
not the mode; for instance, when Pentecost dawned
upon the world the Apostles were ignorant, unlet¬
tered men, speaking the dialect of Galilee.
"When nine o'clock came we found these men
standing up, educated, in earth's languages, pol¬
ished scholars; the Holy Ghost having translated
them from ignorance to intelligence, from one state
to another. And this is why this is called baptism
of the Holy Ghost: because' the Holy Ghost was
the cause of the translation, and this was why Paul
said, "One Lord, one faith, one baptism," meaning,
whether it was the baptism of suffering, Holy Ghost
or water, it carried with it the design of baptism
in the New Testament—that is, the transition from
one state to another. This is what Paul meant to
teach in I Cor. 10:1, 2, when he said: Moreover,
brethren, I would not that ye be ignorant, how
that all our fathers were under the cloud, and
passed through the sea and were baptized unto
Moses in the cloud and in the sea. Referring to
the design of baptism, for the Red Sea separated
and His Twelve Apostles.
99
Israel from Egypt, his former home of bondage and
slavery.
Thus our baptism, showing the death, burial and
resurrection of Christ, stands between the church
member and the world, and we are told in Exodus
14:29 that the children of Israel walk on dry land
in the midst of the sea; therefore, the la(nd being
dry there could be no sprinkling from the cloud,
even if the cloud had not been a fiery pillar by
night, refuting the idea that the children of Israel
were baptized by rain from a fiery cloud.
Conclusion.—First. The words sprinkling,
sprinkle, pour and pouring were common expres¬
sions in the Jeiwish language, and if these words
meant baptism in the Greek, then the seventy who
translated the Bible from Hebrew to Greek two
hundred and eighty-five years before Christ at the
city of Alexandria, would have translated them so.
This was the first translation of the Bible, and in
an age when there was no controversy about the
word. Why, then, did these translators use the
word ramtizzo for the expression of sprinkling and
"bapto" for the word dip? Because they had no
axes to grind, and the words could admit of no
other translations.
Second. The Greek Catholic church numbers
four hundred millions who practice immersion.
The Roman church practiced immersion until the
second century ; the Church of England practiced
immersion until the thirteenth century, and ail
Protestant churches admit immersion is baptism.
Third. Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Barnes and
Clarke all admit that immersion is taught in the
New Testament
Thus, I would say unto you, dear reader, repent
and believe the gospel, Mark 1:13, and be baptized.
Mark 16:16.
CHAPTER XVIII.
A WONDERFUL SERMON.
Sermon Delivered at the First Baptist Church by
Dr. Stokes.
UT Abraham said: Son, rememebr that
thou in thy lifetime received thy good
things, and likewise Lazarus his evil
things; but now he is comforted, and
thou art tormented."
In all the wide range of the Bible I think no text
•is more appropriate, my brethren, than the one
given us this morning by the Holy Spirit in this
our annual revival. Most Biblical scholars have
tried, it seems, to palliate the awfulness of the
sentiments expressed in this text, for the purpose
of making it more palpable for the repenting and
unrepenting sinners, by saying this is a parable.
When I think of it indeed as a parable the horrors
mentioned in this text are more awful than if all
would admit that it is the plain truth, but I will
not at this time deal with the parable or its reality
in its entirety. All will agree that at the time the
text was given us the rich man and Lazarus were
both dead. Both had received their reward, both
had faced the awful judge, both of them had looked
into the face of God. Lazarns had seen the loving
smile that always precedes the "Well done, be¬
loved." He had by this time passed from the stage of
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Dedicated to Jesus Christ
putrified sores, passed from the care of his dog physi¬
cian and had been permitted to join angelic company
and be. in their association, had begun to learn
their language, had seen the throne, had met some
of his old acquaintances, had met Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob, and the good men and women of all the
preceding ages, welcoming him into the eternal
bliss; but now the rich man is also dead, as will be
every sinner that sits before me this morning, who
will not repent, believe the gospel and be baptized.
1 would have you notice next, that so short is the
time between the death of the sinner and his safe
arrival to the world of his ruin that' no time is
mentioned. Yes, when a sinner dies, before the
hand that wipes the dropping sweat, or that closes
the suffering eye, has been removed, that soul, I
say, is landed in a hell, where the worm dieth not,
and where the fire is not quenched, where famine
is as frequent as day and night and where sorrow
and pain are the only companions. My God, my
Saviour, my Almighty friend, give us the presence
of the Holy Spirit to arouse Christians to greater
activity and to arouse - sinlners to a sfose of their
awful condition before revival days and gospel op¬
portunities close forever. Two words in this text
I will now call your special attention to. "Son,
remember." I think, my friends, that the future
would not be so gloomy to the dead unbeliever and
the dying sinner if it were not for the awful truth
that memory is not dethroned after death. Why,
my brethren, the lost sinner remembered his
father's house, he remembered his live brothers, he
remembered what they were doing and, though in
hell, he makes the one, the only one, and the last
request that has ever come to us from that under
world, and that was, that Lazarus should be com¬
missioned to preach to his brothers, to preach the
acceptable year of the Lord, to preach the gospel
and His Twelve Apostles.
103
of repentance and faith, all of which you have be¬
fore you this morning, my sinner friend. If it is
possible for a sinner to repent after death, the rick
man did, but it was too late! Too late! Too late!
Eternally too late! A voice from the cloud rang
out clear and distinct, so loud that the groans of
the damned could not break the force of the waves
that rung out from Abraham's lips, when he said
to the rich mam, nothing could pass from hell to
heaven, and nothing from heaven to hell. I there¬
fore call you to repentance, this morning. "Will
you repent? Can you repent? Can't you, by the
help of God's Holy Spirit, consent to leave off your
sins, your folly, and spend one day around the
dripping cross of my and your Saviour? If you
refuse to repent, if you refuse the gospel's invita¬
tion, if you refuse the opportunities that these re¬
vival days offer you, awful will be the day of your
death. I imagine a sinner in hell in God's prison
and then being capable of remembering the prayers
of his father for him when he was a tottering babe,
remembering the songs, the prayers, the invitations
that have been so often extended to him by loving
mother. Oh, it seems to me as I stand here this
morning in the midst of this vast concourse of peo¬
ple and attempt to preach the gospel that mo
thought will bring more excruciating pain to the
lost sinner than the thought that a loving mother
and father prayed for him, but he refused to be
saved.
Again, I am justified in saying that the lost sin¬
ner will remember that, though away from his God,
never to be restored to God's favor, the pleasant
associations, the pleasant moment that he spent in
the church in the midst of songs and the outburst
of hallelujah, he will remember the boys and girls,
men and women that once made it pleasant for
him while on earth.
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Dedicated to Jesus Christ
Again, he will remember lost opportunities, times
wili come to the sinner's memory when he will re¬
member that he was almost persuaded to be a Chris¬
tian, but finally gave up in despair, and was lost
and, like the rich man, will desire to send messages
back, pregnant with importance to £he sinner, that
then will be living. But, my friends, remember
that Abraham said that no message could pass be¬
tween these two important worlds.
Next, the sinner will remember the atoning death
of Jesus. Oh! my frieind, the ministry of all the
ages and the Christian men and women have labored
faithfully to present the claim of Jesus Christ to
you, but in many cases without avail. You have
been spoken to about the Thursday night's arrest
of Jesus, your attention has been directed to his
trial before Caiaphas, Herod and Pilate. The high¬
est authorities pronounced him not guilty. Not
guilty as an individual, but as a substitute for you
who sit here and curse him to his face. The Cen¬
turion marched the Paschal Lamb out in the midst
of millions of spectators, between t>wo thieves! What
an awful procession. The most innocent of all the
ages, marching a prisoner before the guiltiest mob
of all times. This was indeed a sad procession, but
the most memorable one that ever moved on earth,
it was more significant than any triumphant march.
This Christ, my brethren, with belated face and
swollen lips, made so by the blows of his persecu¬
tors, marched to Calvary's Hill. I pause for a
moment and now I ask in the name of God the
Father, in the name of the Holy Ghost, the Com¬
forter, in the name of Jesus Christ the Redeemer,
who will rise up and say, "I will receive him?" He
shall be my king when He shall come. This Christ of
ours said on the morning of his aseelnsion, through
angels, "In like manner as you see me go away
and His Twelve Apostles.
105
I will come again." We may expect him there¬
fore amid ten thousand of his saints. We may ex¬
pect him with angels as his associates, we may ex¬
pect him in glory while the awful results of horrors
of the memory of our lost opportunities will haunt
the unbeliever through all eternity. "Son, remem¬
ber, remember, son, I say, remember."
Song sung:
"That awful day will surely come,
The appointed hour make haste;
When I must stand before my Judge
And pass the solemn test.".
CHAPTER XIX.
Rev. A. J. Stokes, D. D., the Noted Divine,
Preached the Following Sermon at the First Bap¬
tist Church Sunday, June 16, at 3 p. m., to the
Knights of Tabor:
"Debate thy cause with thy neighbor himself,
and discover not a secret to another."—Prov. 25:9.
T is well in this connection also to note
the advice of the Saviour to the world,
when He says: "Let not thy right hand
know what thy left hand doeth. We
will note that Proverbs was writteh by
King Solomon, and we must confess that Solomon
had very confused notions sometimes about morality
and domestic regularity. His domestic relations
caused him to know the evils of a seeret divulged.
Hence liis advice, " Discover not a secret to an¬
other.*" Where a secret is told, as a rule, three
persons are badly effected. The person who tells
the secret is a liar; the person to whom the secret
is told is made no better, and the person on whom
the secret is told may be ruined. By divulging
secrets, communities are thrown into confusion.
Sometimes secrets appear in very distressing form,
such as the following: Lawyers betraying patients,
neighbor betraying neighbor, friend betraying
friend; and things have gone on in this kind of a
• 07)
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Dedicated to Jesus Christ
way until there are very few people able to trust
anybody. My darling brethren and sisters, in our
physiological make-up God has indicated that He
is trying to save our bodies from self-destruction,
by giving to the body two eyes, two ears, two noses,
but one mouth. The physiological suggestion is
that the God of wisdom, might and power wishes
us, His beloved sons and daughters, to see more
than we speak. The most of men who lose their
heads on the gallows, their own mouths talk them
off. By the power of a secret divulged, churches
are ruined and neighborhoods go apart. By the
power of secrets kept, marriages are frequent, re¬
formations are built up, business is enhanced.
The question has been before the people of the
earth for 500 years, is a secret society that meets
behind closed doors, with nobody but its members
to enter, and they, by grip and password, are they
more useful to mankind than destructive to morals?
I ansAver most emphatically and with all the em¬
phasis of my soul that that depends entirely upon
the object for which the secret society is organized.
Will some one in this audience today tell me what
would become of the laboring class of mankind
with unsatisfied greed of the rich for gain, if the
laboring man did not have labor organizations?
Why, my dear friends, but for these labor organiza¬
tions, and I do not mean labor organizations that
demand unreasonable wages and destroy people's
property if their reasonable demands are not ac¬
ceded to, but I mean a legitimate secret organization
that means to give honest toil and to receive honest
reward and thereby prevent the rich from reducing
the poor to beggary and slavery. You notice, dear
hearers, that Jesus, the Saviour of the world, who
lived a thousand years after Solomon's day, lent
emphasis and divinity to Solomonwords, "Dis-
and His Twelve Apostles.
109
cover not a secret," when He said, "Let not thy
right hand know what thy left hand doeth.'' Why,
my dear friend, did you know that God has organ¬
ized all of His creation into secret societies? Every
family on earth is but a little secret society, with
fatiier as president, mother as secretary and treas¬
urer, and the children are the members. It is as
clear to my mind as anything can be that God
wants all men organized into secret societies for the
sublimest good of all mankind. Right after crea¬
tion the work of organization began. We find sheep
in herds, birds in droves, and their organization is
eternally fixed by an Omniscient God. This law is
so immutably fixed that a gunner passing through
a farmer's field may fire a volley into a covey of
quails and may, with the precision of the great
hunter, Nimrod, bring to the ground all the officers
of the drove and cause the live ones to scatter, but
by the help of their Creator they will form an or¬
ganization before breakfast the next morning. In
consequence of these tendencies we find men com¬
ing together in communities, in churches and in
societies—some to kindle the fire of merriment, some
to plan for the advancement of the State, some for
mercantile purposes. Secret societies are ordained
by God, and a man or men will succeed as well
preaching against their organization as he would
preaching to a bee-hive on the power of a hydraulic
press or to an ant bed, declaring that they must
disorganize. Organization is thus declared in every
part of God's universe. A man's hand is but an
organization of five little members, called fingers,
for the mutual protection and help of the whole
body. The generals of opposing armies never send
information to an opposing general of the time and
place of attack; neither can we who are organized
in the armies of the living God, whether in church
or in secret organizations, where the object is for
110
Dedicated to Jesus Christ
the blessing of humanity. I say that your plans
must not always be known even by your careless
members, much less by your enemies. I believe to¬
day that I am speaking through this audience and
through tiie press to 8,000 Knights of Tabor, who
have been for years healing the sick, blessing the
unfortunate and laying away bread for the father¬
less and the widow.
I am told that you have already spent in the last
few years $30,000 on the needy people of your or¬
ganization. I have also been reliably informed that
you have $20,000 or more on hand with which to
bless humanity. I want to ask you in God's name
to spend this money so as to bring the greatest
blessings to your members and to your race, re¬
membering that when 8,000 of you are banded to¬
gether inseparably to improve opportunities for
your children, by building stores in which your
children are to be the clerks, farms on which your
children are to be the masters, then, and not until
then, will you be making the best use of your
monies and opportunities. Why, my dear friends,
do you know that the Knights of Tabor, the Masons,
the Odd Felloes and many other secret organiza¬
tions now in existence have $92,000 in the different
banks of this country, and that this, your own
money, is being loaned to you at an enormous rate
of interest? It is true that we crawl before we
walk. We are in the crawling stage now, but, my dear
friends, not many years hehce the vast membership
of your grand organization will rise up and demand
that the leaders set aside $10,000 to be loaned to
colored people, for which they -will pay a reasona¬
ble amount of interest and at the same time give
their sons and daughters positions as clerks, book¬
keepers and collectors. I would have you notice
again that the home is the unit of value to the race;
and His Twelve Apostles.
Ill
therefore any secret society that blesses home, that
assists in making wife and mother happy at home
is a blessing; but any society that makes mother,
wife and sister unhappy at home and happy in the
lodge room tends to destroy the only foundation
upon which a race may firmly stand. May the
finances and acts of mercy done by the Knights of
Tabor be only for the glory of God and for the
highest good of mankind. May all of your mem¬
bers be loyal, faithful, true and good and may at
death an everlasting sun rise to shine ofcL each one
of them forever more.
Baptizing in the Jordan.
CHAPTER XX.
BACCALAUREATE SERMON.
By Rev. A. J. Stokes, Before Benedict College,
Columbia, South Carolina.
That our sons may be as plants grown up in their
youth; that our daughters may be as corner-stones
polished after the similitudes of a palace.—144th
Psalm, 12th verse.
N this text we note a request and prayer
to God for those elements in young men
and women which are so necessary for
the successful prosecution of their work
in church and state. The Psalmist
seems here in two clauses to have unburdetned his
soul to God for the prosperity of young men and
women and to have erected a symmetrical statute
as a pattern for the formation of character in all
succeeding generations.. Two figures, I think, the
grandest that could have beefri used, are here used
by the Psalmist. The one a grown-up plant to rep¬
resent the position and character of a young man,
the other the polished corner-stone of a palace to
represent the character and position of the young
woman. One other thought I think David intetads
to convey here, and that is the inter-dependent re¬
lation which exists between the animal and vege¬
table kingdom. Strange though it may seem to
("3)
114
Dedicated to Jesus Christ
man witn all of his superior capabilities and power
of reasoning, yet without the assistance of the vege¬
table world he could not continue to live. Here is
vividly illustrated the inter-dependent relation that
exists between God's creation. For nothing that
God created is more active neither in body nor in
spirit than man. Nothing is more inactive com¬
pared with man than things seem in the vegetable
kingdom. For they neither, see nor hear, reason
nor speak. ana yet man is dependent largely
upon these inanimate objects for his existence.
This same principle, gentlemen and ladies, is fur¬
ther illustrated if you will carefully notice between
the living plant which represents man in his ac¬
tivity and the "corner-stone,'" in its steadfastness
and beauty, which represents woman. We would
note first that oxygen which supports animal life
is destructive to vegetable life, and carbon which
supports vegetable life is destructive to animal life.
Oxygen when inhaled by animal is exhaled by vege¬
table. Carbon when exhaled by animals is inhaled
by vegetables. Hence the inter-dependent relation
which exists between the animal and the vegetable
worlds. In other words, destroy all the trees and
man dies for want of oxygen air, or destroy man
and the trees die for want of carbon air. I would
have you understand, gentlemen and ladies, that
this inter-dependent relation that exists between
man and man. There is a relation that exists be¬
tween men of every color and of every
grade. Because God has created of one blood all
nations to dwell upon all the face of earth; there"
is a relation which exists between man and man
that should you forget it, it may serve to hinder
your success in a great many battles of life. The
tendency in young men and women who become ed¬
ucated is to hold themselves aloft from their less
and His Twelve Apostles.
115
fortunate brethren and sisters. This, gentlemen
and. ladies, I regard as a fatal mistake. And should
you return home and treat your less fortunate
friend indifferent, he will retaliate. This will
greatly if not entirely hinder your work. Despise
not the day of small things; remembering that the
14th epistle written by the apostle Paul, laden as
they are with the greatest jewels that were ever
given to man with information that is as eternal as
God himself, and with a sweetness to the soul of
the Christian that I think can only be described by
Christ, the giver of all gifts, once swung on a
cord over the Damascus wails. Paul may have for¬
gotten the threatejnings of the mob at Jerusalem,
his imprisonment in Rome or his speech upon Mars
Ilill which shook the powers of Greece and forever
put to a disadvantage all other religions except the
religion of Jesus Christ. But the fact that he had
to be let dowta. in a basket, that basket held up by
a string and perhaps that string in the hands of a
woman is an incideint in his life which I think the
eighteen hundred years that he has been a resident
of the eternal world could not erase from his mind.
If you can by chance remember the days of your
escape from the bankruptcy of your stupidity and
ignorance to the possession of the intellectual capi¬
tal that you are now the recipieint of, the ten¬
dency will be sympathy for your less fortunate
brethren rather than a disregard. Stating it plain¬
ly, education which does not give its possessor
greater love for humanity, deeper reverence for
God and a desire to lift up fallen humanity is arti¬
ficial. True education is a harmonious development
of the moral, physical and intellectual powers of
man. Mark this definition, that it is the harmoni¬
ous development of the moral, physical and intel¬
lectual powers of man. The development of any
one of these without the development of the other
116
Dedicated to Jesus Christ
two makes man a greater burden to himself and a
mightier weapon in the hand of the devil.
Imagine for a moment a main intellectually per¬
fect, mind trained to deal with all the great prob¬
lems of mathematics, to marshal the stars in the
solar system at will; he may by his geological re¬
searches reveal secrets hid in the bowels of the
earth for centuries, but suppose he is a physical
wreck, this active mind moving with such rapidity
and force in a feeble body will soon destroy it; so
that in this case the man educated intellectually
would be a self-destroyer. Or think of a man physi¬
cally perfect and intellectually perfect but whose
morals are defected. In this case man becomes a
great instrument in the hands of satan for evil.
Here is a great and trained mind to plan, to devise,
a body to carry out the mandates of this misguided
mind with no morals to direct the course of such
a body and mind. .Such a one becomes the ensign
of destructions, a decoyer of the simple, a child of
the devil. Or imagine a man who is physically and
morally perfect but who has no attainments in¬
tellectually, such a man could be said to be a plant
but not a plant grown up in its youth as is de¬
scribed in our text, but as a stunted and.dwarfted
plant. Such a man or woman may be free by pro¬
clamation, but will remain a slave till his or her
intellectual condition be chamged. But let us
imagine for a moment a man intellectually grown,
physically developed, and morally perfect^ then
suppose this man or woman spiritually a saint.
What a power in the ha'nd of the Almighty lan¬
guage is absolutely inadequate to express the force
and use of such a servant in the house of God. May
each one of you, gentlemen, strive to be a plant
grown up in youth; a man to do battle for God
and humanity. Gentlemen, get common sense, and
and His Twelve Apostles.
117
by the way, that is the most uncommon sense we
have. But the psalmist also requests that our
daughters may be as corner-stones polished after
the similitude of a palace. By daughters, families
are united and connected to their mutual strength
- as the parts of a building are by the corner-stones,
and when they are graceful and beautiful both in
body and in mind they are then polished after the
similitude of a nice and curious structure. When
we see our daughters well established and stayed
witli wisdom and discretion as corner stones are
fastened in the building, when we see them by faith
united to Christ as the chief corner-stone, adorned
with the graces of God's spirit, which is the polish¬
ing of-that which is naturally rough, and become
women professing godliness; when we see them
puriJied and consecrated to God as living temples,
we think ourselves happy in them. Woman is
•either mother or sister and is the superstructure
upon which the success of any nation must be erect¬
ed. The destiny, the rise or fall of any people de¬
pends upon what their women are. One hundred
years ago this was not said of her, nor was it known,
but today it is confessed by all. Daniel Webster
and Henry Clay were great statesmen, none will
deny, and yet, Webster and Clay with ail the flights
of their impassioned eloquence, awed listening
senates and applauding multitudes, never shaped
public opinion, as did men's souls, nor had as potent
an influence in shaping our future as a nation, as
did the story of "Uncle Tom's Cabin." And its
mission did not end there, for translated into nearly
all the languages, it has worked like leaven over
nearly the whole world; to arouse in all nations a
love for justice and universal freedom. Had Mrs.
Stowe striven, as an orator, or as a legislator, she
might have been a total failure, but the world in¬
clined its ear to listen to the voice of the womanly
118
Dedicated to Jesus Christ
sympathy and pleadings for justice, as she spoke
out of her own hearthstone. One of the greatest
needs of women is more education; not merely of
the schools, but a general knowledge, which will
enable them to obtain a broader view of the world
and its activity. Thousands of women have so
much leisure that they become lonely, discontented
and complaining. Why should they not go through
the enchaliiting fields of literature and pluck the
fearless flowers of thought and sentiment, and look
back through the vistas of the past and familiarize
themselves with the chief acts and events? Why
should they not keep informed as to what is going
on in the world, in science, in philosophy, in poli¬
tics, in invention and general progress? But espec¬
ially in the vital issues and perplexing problems
which our own country is called upon to face and
solve. Surely such training and culture would make
women better fitted to be the companions of their
husbands and the instructors of their children and
a hearer of household ainnoyances would be
dispelled. Really women are the guarding angels
of the home. David says, "She must be polished
after the similitude of a palace." Under the
structure because of her ability to endure; on the
corner because when polished after the similitude
of a palace, by a harmonious development of her
native powers, she becomes the central object of
God's creation. Gentlemen and ladies, you are, I
suppose, aware of the fact that under the presi¬
dency of Drs. Colby, Goodspeed aind C. E. Becker,
more than one hundred and fifty young men and
women have gone forth to engage in the battle of
life from this institution. You, I am aware, know
that the country is beginning to acknowledge the
force of their godly live_g, scholarly attainments and
their acknowledged ability as leaders. Your names,
too, will soon be enrolled upon the Alumni scroll
and His Twelve Apostles.
119
of this Institution. The President and Faculty are
proud of vou. In the battle of life, will you equal
those who have preceded them? I would have you
distinctly understand that a faithful life is the only
life worth living. Solomon tried the opposite, he
asked for wisdom, it was given him, and wisdom
brought riches as a natural consequence. Uncon-
secrated riches brought him to the, lowest depth
of dissipation, and in after years he breaks through
the dense fog of his unconsecrated fame and riches
and cries out to all that was to follow, "Valnity of
vanity, all is vanity."
SUBJECT: BAPTISM AS A FIGURE.
Dr. Stokes' Sermon Delivered at the Close of a
Great Revival to the Young Converts.
Matt. 28:19: "Go ye therefore, and te^ch all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
Y dear children, who have so recently
accepted the Lord and Saviour Jesus;
Christ, upon profession of your faith,
and I say accepting the Lord Jesu&
Christ as your Saviour, which is the-
greatest and most important duty of man while he
lives in the owrld. I want to congratulate you on
your Christian womanhood and manhood. It takes
faith and wisdom displayed in mighty ways to be¬
lieve that the death of Jesus Christ, nearly two
thousand years ago, saved your souls then if you
accept that death now. Oh, I must stop this morn¬
ing to say that our beloved brother, John, standing
before some ne[w-born believers, as I am this morn¬
ing, desiring to place their spiritual feet upon the
him, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlast¬
ing life." He that believeth on the Son hath ever¬
lasting life, but he that believeth not on the Son shall
(121)
122
Dedicated to Jesus Christ.
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth upon
him. Wherever this sermon may go, I pray that
he who reads it may stop and co'nsider these in¬
spired words: "He that believeth on the Son hath
everlasting lii'e."'
Yes, my dear Christian converts, in Jesus Christ
my and your Saviour, we read of the vengeance of
God to be visited upon the unconverted, the unre¬
pentant and the unsaved. But no pent-up wrath can
be found in God's great bosom to be poured out on
the believer.
Some years ago it was my pleasure and privilege
to visit the country of Switzerland and to pass on
railroad.- trains near the foot of the Alps. While
passing through these mountains X saw the light¬
ning, saw the rain and heard the thundering in the
clouds beneath me. But on the mountains where
I was I saw the beautiful sunshifre, amid the wav¬
ing grass, the dripping springs and the snow¬
capped Alps. Oh, my blessed Redeemer, I can
never forget the beauty and grandeur that appeared
to me all those mountains, while beneath it thun¬
dered and roared. And so it will be, and so it is
now with the believer. The wrath of God like
natural thunder may roar beneath the believer, but
can never disturb him, for he lives iri the atmosphere
above, in the midst of the flowers of holiness and
the gardens of beauty, with the grapes of eternal
life hanging over him and around him, so that he
can eat thereof and live forever.
But my text says, "Baptize them in the name of
the Father, in the name of the Son and in the name
of the Holy Ghost." May the unbelieving notice
here that in this commission we have no commission
to baptize them with the name of the Father, with
the name, of the Son nor with the« name of the
Holy Ghost? Yes, God bless your souls, we have
and His Twelve Apostles.
123
the preposition ''in" to the name of the Father,
and '"in" to the name of the Son and "in" to the
name of the Holy Ghost. Under the fire of the
Holy Ghost John used this preposition because it
assists in explaining the act of baptism. Baptism,
like the sacrament, must represent infinite impor¬
tant ideas in the great canon of salvation.
'The Lord's Supper represents the death and
suffering of Jesus Christ, for the salvation of all
those who believe in him and accept him. So bap¬
tism must represent Christ's burial and his resur¬
rection, for if it is important to commemorate the
death of Christ it is just as important that there
must be some act in the church to represent His
burial and resurrection. The prophets had declared
ihat the Jesus who was to die for the sins of the
world was also to rise on the third day. Suppose
that lie had not risen? A fabrication would have
been found in the gospel story that would have-
been fatal to the entire gospel. In the act of bap¬
tism we have first a figure of the burial and resur¬
rection of Christ, which must be kept before the
eyes of the world until the end thereof. I wish
you to note, dear children, that sprinkling water
upon the head cam never represent a burial or res¬
urrection. Paul in explaining the act of baptism
in his day in his letter to the Romans (6:4) said:
"Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into
death: that like as Christ was raised up from the
dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life." Here the doctrine
is taught by the great apostle to the Gentiles that
baptism must represent a burial. If the act does
not represent a burial it folloiws that there is no
baptism. Thein, too, my dear hearers, baptism is
intended to declare a candidate's burial to sin, and
his resurrection to live a new life. If pouring and
124
Dedicated to Jesus Christ
sprinkling water upon people could be substituted
for baptism the important figure of the sinner's
burial to sin and resurrection to a new life would
be destroyed.
In the third place, baptism must represent the
final resurrection of the saints to a glorious and
eternal future. The most beautiful figure that can
be seen on earth is a saved soul coming from the
dripping waters, with a faithful minister standing
there to comfort and to welcome him as he emerges
from the watery grave.
Oh, thanks be unto God, as I speak to you on
this important subject this morning, that as the
saints emerge from their temporary resting place,
the grave, to meet Jesus with ten thousands of his
saints, under the very archway of glory, they shall
sing with triumphant voices:
"All hail the power of Jesus' name,
Let angels prostrate fall.
Bring forth the royal diadem
And crown him Lord of all."
Until a man has been baptized so as to see all
three of these requirements, he cannot be said,
to be truly baptized. May we all be able to sing
this morning:
"Lord, in humble, sweet submission
Here we meet to follow Thee.
Trusting in Thy great salvation,
"Which alone can make us free.
"Here we come in Christian duty,
Down beneath the waves to go.
Christ the Lord, the heavenly beauty,
Christ, the Lord, was buried so."
Amen. Amen.
SUBJECT—ESSENTIALS OF RACE BUILDING.
Sermon by Dr. Stokes.
Proverbs xi, 16th verse: "A gracious woman ire-
taineth honor, and strong men retain riches.''
I"* N this text, daughter, sister and mother
come in for a part of the honors and
blessings that Eternity, in His ex¬
pressed will, has bequeathed to the
human family. When my text speaks
of woman, it includes the three names men¬
tioned, namely, daughter, sister and mother; but I
shall in this discourse avoid the discussion as to'
sister and daughter, and call the attention of the
convention to mother; her influence in shaping the
destiny of the nations for prosperity or adversity,
for weal or for woe, for time and eternity. We
may here notice that frothing is said in the text as
to man retaining honor, because the characteristics
that are found in mother are as certain to be
stamped in man as his mother lived. It is said that
the intellectual calibre of mother, her manner of
conversation, her habits of thought, all have a
mighty influence on her children; and it is a pro¬
found and well recognized principle that to mothers
is entrusted the shaping of the lives of the sons and
daughters who in turn shape the destinies of gov¬
ernments and the elevation of the world. There is
a power more potential than the sword, the bayonet
(125)
126
Dedicated to Jesus Christ
01' the senate. Some one has finely said: "It is
related of Phidias that in constructing tlie statue
of Minerva at Athens, he so wrought his own image
into her shield that it could not be removed with¬
out destroying the statue itself."
Thus ineffaceabty does the mother engrave her
mental likeness and her moral character upon the
soul of her child so that not until that soul shall be
annimated will the maternal image be remover.
The quickest way, therefore, to turn the attention
of our rising race to business pursuits is to direct
mother's attention thereto, and in twenty years we
will have in this country five hundred thousand
successful merchants; and business has a peculiar
effect upon politics, for I find by actual experience
that the privilege to worship and my feelings as ta
the security in that worship are not near so sweet
as when my race had the ballot. Disguise it if you
will, put it in any language you wish, but when a
people are denied the ballot on account of any
peculiarity of that people, except that of ignorance,
there is a kind of slavery there; and slaves cannot
do very much business where they are competing
against their masters. I hope to be kind and gen¬
erous in this discourse to all men; but to be truth¬
ful I must, and to be frank I will say that a race
without the ballot in the midst of another race
with the ballot dares not compete with the race
with the ballot, because in competition there is
friction, and wherever there is friction between a
race with the ballot and a race without the ballot,
either the whip ,the courts or a gun teaches the
man without the ballot by actual experience that
competition in business is impudence. I once lis¬
tened to a eulogy 011 "Mother," delivered by CoL
JEl. B. Elliot, the great jurist, when he said: "My
mother now has been dead 19 years, and I might
and His Twelve Apostles.
127
have been an Atheist, but when I remember that
she with her angelic hands led me to my knees night
and morning with the words, 'Our Father, which
art in heaven,' I cannot forget her, who not only
gave me life, but taught me all of my hope for
eternity.';
I wish to impress this audience with the power
of mother over the youth, because if we can, on
retiring from this convention, impress the colored
mothers of this country with the almost infifiite im¬
portance of turning her children's attention to¬
wards the business pursuits of this country, in order
that we might gain, and maintain a proper respect
among the people of the earth, the intention of the
speaker will have been accomplished. "Who can
fathom the depths of mother's desire to see us, her
sons and daughters, prosper in business? Her de¬
sire in this direction is as deep, profound and as
pure as her love, and her love is so fixed that the
wild storm of adversity and the bright sunshine of
prosperity are all alike to her, however unworthy
wp mav liavp hp. on ; and often wrten we. her sons
and daughters, are alone, we gaze up into the
bright heavens above us, and there in our imagina¬
tion we catch a glimpse of the great white throne"
and the angels around it, but the brightest of them
all is mother, beckoning us to come up to her ter¬
restrial paradise.
The Eden of earth is the place where the great
work of mother is to be performed; with precious
influence of noble womanhood, she nurtured into
infinite actions those about her and develops the
graces and harmonies of life and character, as the
sunshine brings out the beauty, fragrance and the
fruits of the rarest flowers. Better than the high¬
est culture or intellectual superiority is the presence
in the home of one of these queens, whose realm
128
Dedicated to Jesus Christ
and dominion are bounded on the north by love, on
1 he east and west by affection, and o,n the south,
by kindness. Such mothers and such homes will
send out sons such as the world needs, and men
who delight to honor, and daughters whose loveliest
adornments are the virtues and graces which mother
possesses.
Hear our text once more: "A gracious mother re-
taineth hoinor, and strong men retain riches." Edu¬
cation, honor and riches are the foundation stones
upon which is to be erected the Negro's future. Ed¬
ucation, honor and riches are the great foundation
stones upon which the great building of the Negro's
future prosperity is to be erected. Our people,
brethren, by the assistance of our philanthropic
brethren, have pushed our educational institutions
so rapidly in the last forty years, and our business
institutions so slowly, that we have thousands of
educated men and women who cannot get a' job
among us commensurate with their dignity and in¬
telligence. All of us will admit that the same job
and the same price for that job that a man had be¬
fore his education will not content him or her after¬
wards. Therefore, it is imperative upon the Negro
man either to shut down these institutions of learn¬
ing, or he must unite his efforts and money, aind
thereby create a place in the commercial world
for our own sons and daughters. The million of
Negroes who have not awakened to business are
doing all of their trading with another race. "Will
you stop, my brother, and let me ask you when you!
have spent your life ajnd your money in the stores
of people who are not willing to give your sons
and daughters employment in that store, what have
you to offer your child as an employment when
educated? And aren't you doing your children an
irreparable injustice, and really punishing them,
when you educate them without preparing a job
and His Twelve Apostles.
129
commensurate with their elevated condition of
mind?
Again I repeat that it is the colored man's duty
either to cease educating, or by union of efforts,
union of purpose, and with a determination that
only God can check, start business among your own
people for the employment of your sons and
daughters. Permit me now to quote a passage from
God which expresses God's wishes to us as to our
spirit in business: "Not slothful in business; fer¬
vent in spirit, serving the Lord."—Rom. 12:11. To
conduct a healthy, honest business is not only a
service to ourselves and our posterity, but a service
to God. No people, therefore, is truly serving God
who are paupers and who believe that it takes
paupers to really serve the Lord. Is it not a good
time for the colored race to start business enter¬
prises all over the United States? Yes, this is the
opportune time; our secret societies might be the
medium. With eight hundred thousand colored
men and women in one mournful procession on their
way to every cemetery in the United States, might
they not stop that procession long enough to or¬
ganize a stock company in every city in this coun¬
try? Think of it, men; eight hundred thousand
colored men headed for the graveyard, with the
hills of opportunity and the valleys of prosperity
inviting preacher and people into the commercial
world! Brothers, let us care not what the oppres¬
sion may be, let us begin our own business enter¬
prises in defense of our good sense. If R. H. Boyd
-can accomplish so much in the establishment and
maintenance of a publishing house in seven years,
as has been accomplished, it will take Professor
Kelly Miller, the great mathematician of Howard
University, and the man who, in the estimation of
all fair-minded people, struck Mr. Dixon's "Leop¬
ard's Spots" the death blow, to calculate what
130
Dedicated to Jesus Christ
might be accomplished by eight hundred thousand
secret society men bent on accomplishing some¬
thing in the business world in one year. I take it
that the insurance movement in the National Bap¬
tist Convention is God's beginning of a great busi¬
ness movement among the Negroes, whose future
results can only be estimated by the revelations of
the future. I am sorry to state that a large num¬
ber of our less informed brethren are singing to
their people: "You may have all the world; give
me Jesus!" The sentiment expressed in this plan¬
tation ditty is sometimes misunderstood by our peo¬
ple, and they are made to believe that it takes
poverty to make a servant of the Lord. This is a
grave mistake, for the Saviour in preaching oil the
Mount said in the beginning of one of His great
sermons that "The meek shall inherit the earth."
I want us, by our tact, economy and frugality, to
own shares in every street car railway, every trunk
line of railway and i'n the great steamship lines. I
want cotton buyers and wheat brokers. In fact,
I want our men to rise up and own whatever earth
and heaven offer.
I think that our convention ought to encourage
white men from the north and east, and from any
place else, to establish business houses wherever
our people are in large numbers, and we pledge to
them our support, provided they employ our peo¬
ple as clerks. This method will do as much for
our people in instructing them how to do business
as the colleges have done in educating them. Yes,
we want business. By doing business and being
business men, we can throw off some of these yokes
that now bind us, or we will break them. Let us
also give our patronage to the men at our own
home, white or black, ivho give to oui; people em¬
ployment, not only as porters and draymen, but
bookkeepers, typewriters and salesmen.
and His Twelve Apostles.
131
"Why, God bless your souls, my brethren, we are
told by Christ that "The meek shall inherit the
earth;'' and we, as friends and relatives of the
Lord Jesus, know full well that He would not give
to His weaker brethren and sisters those uninhabita¬
ble and unproductive parts of the earth; and so
we may infer that the Arctic and Antarctic regions,
uow inhabited only by the walrus and the bear,
will by the potwer of God be changed to a climate
as delightful as Florida or the Garden of Eden,
and a half dozen DeLesseps will furnish the world
with all the canals needed to open up new "lakes
and new rivers so as to make the Sahara Desert
bring forth fruit in an abundance yet unheard of.
SUBJECT—'' JESUS.''
Rev. A. J. Stokes, D. D., the Noted Divine, Preached
the Following Sermon at the First Baptist
Church—"The Coming- Lamb."
Text, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world."—John 1:29.
HE coming of Jesus Christ as a lamb,
bearing the sin of the world, as had been
predicted by the prophets of more than
forty centuries, was an event that had
attracted the attention of the whole
world. His birth, mingled with the fears of help¬
less humanity, was a subject of great concern to
all. At his incarnation the star of hope, like a
great signal light, hung in beauty and loveliness
upon the eastern horizon of a dark and benighted
world; in His life the sorrows of earth ripened into
the effulgent joys of heaven, and in His death the
shame of agony of the cross melted aiway into the
sceptre of power and great glory. The' Jesus of
Bethlehem was truly a child of promise and of
prophecy. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sins of the world. The pious Jew and
the devout of all nations waited long and anxiously
with deep solicitude and a most ardent desire for
the consummation of these sublime declarations.
The promise made to Adam pointed to Jesus Christ
as the seed of woman destined to bruise the ser-
(133)
134
Dedicated to Jesus Christ
pent's head. The captive race waited and watched
with deepest interest and intense anxiety, and at
times the brightest anticipations for its royal de¬
livery. Israel's types and shadows, public and
private festivals, all kept prominently before the
people her promised King.
They bore the most sacred testimony to all na¬
tions of the exalted character of Jesus. The high¬
est anticipations of the Jewish mind were at times
wrought to its highest tension. Burning hones
glowed through the prophetic declaration like lire
through the white clouds of heaven; they fired the
hearts and centered the thoughts of the people on
Jesus. Oh, yes, while there is one herald of the
cross left on earth the prophecy of Job, while lying
upon his dying bed away down i<n the land of
Egypt, as he called his twelve sons to that bed and
as the light from the eternal world broke in upon
his then departing soul, he said: "The sceptre shall
not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between
his feet until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the
gathering of the people be."
Moses said of Jesus, by way of encouragement
to the people: "A prophet shall the Lord your God
raise up unto you and your brethren like unto me.
Him shall you hear in all things, whatsoever he
saith unto you." Balaam in the valley of willows,
bribed by Balak to curse Israel, being enlightened;
by the Spirit of God, exclaimed about' Jesus, "I
shall behold Him but not now." There shall come
a star out of Jacob and a sceptre shall rise out of
Israel. Isaiah, the prince of prophets, saw Jesus
slain as a lamb from the foundation of the world.
Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the
sin of the world. I would have you notice that
Jesus was distinguished for those things which the
lamb is supposed to exhibit. First, Jesus was in-
and His Twelve Apostles.
135
nocent; no guile was found in his mouth. When
public indignation had risen about him and
when the feast at Jerusalem, that had been the
pride of thb people for centuries, was marred and
ruined because of the presence of Jesus, the people
rose up Avith one voice and said, "Crucify him!
Crucify him! Away with him." I care not for
their sneers and jeers. Judas, Christ's worst ene¬
my, said in the midst of the trial, "I liavt betrayed
ah innocent man."
I would ask you again, my friends, this morning
to consider another characteristic of this sin-bear¬
ing lamb; that characteristic is patience. Patience
was displayed in all of its power through His whole
life.
They railed at Him, they mocked Him, they de¬
spised Him, they heaped insults upon Him. But ah,
my brethren, as I stand here near the cross I see
my Saviour and your Saviour swinging upon that
piece of wood made horizontal and perpendicular
for the purpose of stretching him before the gaze
of a sinful world and to appease the wrath of His
enemies. Who present can forget His words,
patience and forgiveness as He cried out from the
depths of His soul, "Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do." Oh, I beseech you Chris¬
tians this mornilng that you be more like Jesus in
the exhibition of your patience.
Yes, we need patience in the treatment of our
wives, patience in the treatment of our children,
patience to enable us to sympathize with our unkind
and ungrateful neighbors, patience that we may be
able to treat the brute creation, God's first created
beings, aright; patience that we may be able to cry
out as did our crowned Head, "Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do." Lord
Jesus, who stood with one of thy feet upon the
136
Dedicated to Jesus Christ
neck of Gennesaret's waters and the other upon the
back of the wind as it brooded over the same sea,
and made an order that they both obeyed when thou
didst say, "Peace, be still.7'
Give us patience, that we may exhibit it to the
world, that we have been with and learned of
Thee, is the prayer of thy servant, as I attempt to
lead thy people in the way that Thou didst go.
The next we will notice that Jesus is like the
lamb in usefulness. The flesh of the lamb is ex¬
cellent food. Its wool for raiment; its blood was
notice to the destroying angel to pass on. So Jesus
is flesh, is meat indeed, and His blood cleanseth
from all sin, and Pie by His death has paid for a
robe which every one of us I trust will wear into
the marriage supper of the Lamb. Wear one, my
brethren, by all means. Have one; they are not
bought; they are given by believing in Jesus Christ.
The paschal lamb especially had respect to Jesus
in its being without spot or blemish, in its being a
year old, in its being take&i out of the fold, in its
being set apart four days, in not a bone being
broken, in being roasted with fire, in its blood de¬
livering from the destroying angel. Jesus, our
Saviour, was set apart in the promise four thousand
years before His death, and entered Jerusalem four
days before He was crucified. Yes, blessed be His
holy name. He was slain in the midst of Israel,
but I tell you not a bone of His was broken. He
endured the scorching rays of the divine compensa¬
tion, and in His blood we are washed from all our
sins. Oh, brother, by believing in Christ as a
Saviour and accepting what He has done for you,
you are saved from your sins.
Do you believe it? Can you believe it? Will
you believe it? God help you to believe aind live.
But we are asked in this text to behold Christ. We
and His Twelve Apostles.
137
cannot look at Him as John did, in person, but by
faith you are asked and requested to notice Him
as the sin-bearing Lamb of God. Behold Him in
His incarnation, how low He stooped, how humbly
He obeyed to raise us to sons of Gocl. Notice Him
again in the wonders of His life, as a physician.
No disease ever baffled his supernatural skill. He
simply said, "Go wash," and the blind came seeing.
At the grave of Lazarus He said, "Come forth,"
and after four days of death and putrefication Laza¬
rus rose up in triumph and pomp and" was at supper
with Jesus that night. And do you know it makes
me happy indeed when I think that some day or
other after the angels shall gather the jewels of
God from all over this earth, we, too, shall be per¬
mitted to be seated at the table in glory with our
Saviour! I will ask the unconverted to behold
Him in Gethsemane's garden, down upon His
knees. He is praying for strength to bear up un¬
der your and my sins. So heavy was the burden
upojo. Him that night that it is said angels came and
strengthened Him.
Look again, if you please, and behold Him suf¬
fering on Calvary's summit crucified between two
thieves, dying amid the darkness of heaven. Oh,
this thing of the suffering Saviour upon the cross
shall never be forgotten. When we are dead we
will hand it down to our children. That death is
the consummation of the bloody tragedies of, alV
the ages. It is the most memorable event ever
marked by the shadow of time. This mighty strug¬
gle was far more deadly than death itself. Oh, the
bitter cup! How fearful the anguish! How pierc¬
ing the thrice-repeated cries, "Father, if it is pos¬
sible let this cup pass."
Thanks be unto God, who heard that master peti¬
tion and sent an angel to strengthen the weakness
13&
Dedicated to Jesus Christ.
of the flesh and then a gentle ray of light rested
upon the sinless sufferer as His plaintive voice was
hushed, His bitter anguish lulled to sleep, and in
three days He rose a. victorious conqueror. You
are asked in this text to behold Him. Behold Him,
my friends, with great reverence. Behold Him in.
repentance; look at Him by faith; 3res, look and
live. I would ask you in the last place to behold
Him as He descends the banks cf the Jordan and
as He stands amid the holy waters, made so because
of His divine presence. I see heaven open, now
I see the Spirit like a dove, now I hear a voice com¬
ing from the celestial glory, as John brings Him
back from those waters, saying, "This is My beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased." Dear friends,
when life is past and the trihity, God, the Father,
and Christ, the Son of God, and the Spirit, the
comforter of the believer, shall again assemble in
some one place to put their approval on the right¬
eous and their disapproval on the unrighteous, may
I ask you to stand among those who shall have and
meet the divine approbation?
God help you to consider it for time and for
eternity. !
SUBJECT—THE CHRISTIAN SOLDIER.
Dr. Stokes' Sermon.
"Thou therefore endure hardness as a good sol¬
dier of Jesus Christ."—2 Tim. 2:3.
N the history of the world never was
ithe advice of Paul to Timothy more ap¬
plicable to Christians than at this end
of the twentieth century. The con¬
tention between right and wrong was
never more fierce. The foes of darkness were
never more subtle and prudent. They, like their
predecessor, the' devil, who took Jesus upon the
Mountain of Transfiguration and offered him a deed
to all the land in sight for one act of worship so
the forces of sin are offering to the believer every
inducement possible for one act of worship. I,
therefore, call out to the Christian soldiers that you
be careful to whom you bow and where you bow.
I preach from this text this morning, because it
has been only a little more than two weeks since
more than 250 soldiers have united to this army of
the living God to see to it that right triumphs over
wrong; to see to it that light reigns instead of dark¬
ness; to see to it that God's will be done. Felloe
soldiers, I welcome you into this army, in which
I have found my chief delight for more than twenty-
(139)
140
Dedicated to Jesus Christ
five years. "Thou therefore endure hardness as a
good soldier of Jesus Christ."
In order to be a good soldier of. Jesus Christ I
would have you know that you should volunteer.
The volunteer soldier needs no guard to watch
him. He or she fights from principle and for prin¬
ciple. He fights when commanded by Jesus and
ceases at His will. He has abandoned his former
course and has cheerfully surrendered by faith to
all the commands of his general, Jesus. He has
already felt the evils of opposing the counsels and
authority of God, and has made a complete and un¬
conditional surreSnder to the claims of the cross and
is now fighting for what he once opposed. Permit
me in the next place, my hearers, to call your at¬
tention to thft fact that the enlisted Christian sol¬
dier fights clothed in the armor of salvation. This
armor is fitly and vividly described by the apostle
to the Gentiles in Ephesians 6:13. He therefore
tells the soldier that he must have his loins girded
about with truth.
Yes, the Christians of every age have gone into
the great arena wearing that old belt of truth.
Jonathan Edwards wore that belt, John the Bap¬
tist wore that belt. Brother Judson wore that
belt. Ruth and Naomi wore that belt in the great
arena for an honest living, and,, thanks be unto
God, I am able to say in your presence that this
belt is the very emblem of victory. All the soldiers
of Jesus Christ from Adam to the least one that
passed into glory this morning wore this old belt
in this contest while on earth. Again, I must ad¬
vise the recent enlisted soldiers that before enter¬
ing into an engagement you must put on the
breastplate of righteousness. I must warn you this
morning that the arrows of the enemy of the cross,
dipped into some poisonous substance, are going
and His Twelve Apostles.
141
to be made to fly thick and fast at the very seat
of your spiritual life. Therefore I beseech you. put
on the breastplate of righteousness. "Wear it by
day and by night. Wear it wherever you go. Your
enemies are watching for a favorable opportunity
to shoot your life away. God help you to be care¬
ful in your dress.
Next, my Christian soldiers, I would have you
notice that your feet must be shod with the prepa¬
ration of the gospel of peace. Oh, yes, they ought
to be shod because of the long journey you must
take and because of the dark, rainy and cold days
on which you will be called upo{n to fight. They
must be shod because no soldier is allowed to fighfc
in the gospel war bare-footed. We need no bare¬
footed troops in the war for the claims of Calvary,
because we are fighting for the richest government
of which omniscience knows. The streets of the
seat of our government are paved with gold. The
foundations of the walls of the city are laid by
hands omnipotent.
The Christian soldier must also take as a helmet
the virtue of hope. Hope is the helmet that repels
the dart of the enemj^'s arrow, and the metal out
of which it is made is so valuable that it can be
used as an anchor for the soul both sure and stead¬
fast. Oh! Christian soldiers, "who fight from the
vessel of God's grace, sailing on the sea of His
great and infinite love, as you bring cities into sub¬
jugation unto you by the long-range gun of prayer,
I tell you that if the storm should break in upon
you at aai unguarded hour of night, as you make
this contest for right over wrong, put out the
anchor of hope, which is the helmet of the believer,
and wait till the storm passes by. But I must ask
you to notice again that the Christian soldier fights
only under the standard of the cross. I have
142
Dedicated to- Jesus Christ
noticed that various nations have various colors
and emblems under which they fight; and in this
connection I would say that I think the emblem
and colors of the United States superior to those
of any other nation, because I think it is more sig¬
nificant. In our flag we have the blue, which rep¬
resents the whole sky; the white, which represents
the purity of the believers, and the red, which rep¬
resents the blood flowing from Calvary for the sal¬
vation of a guilty world. The Christian soldier
fights only under this emblem. The Christian sol¬
diers of Jesus Christ have placed this old emblem
already at the capitals of the greatest nations upon
this globe, and the Christian missionaries of all the
earth are now almost in every nook and corner
where the heathen feet have trod, telling them of
the rightfulness of the claims of the cross of Jesus,
my Savior. May I ask you this morning to pray
for their success.
"VVe would notice again that the Christian soldier
fights directly under Captain Jesus. Jesus leads
and commands all the spiritual forces of earth. It
was on that Island of Patmos, on that never-to-be-
forgotten Sabbath when nothing was heard of wor¬
ship that day by John, save a bass solo, and that
sung by the mad waters of the Aegean Sea, when
he was permitted to see Jesus, the Captailn of our
salvation, seated upon a. milk-white hor§e in front
of the throne, having upon His dear head a bow
and a crown. Let Him wear" them; they belong
to Him; He has paid for them.
Yes, this Jesus, the Captain of our salvation, pos¬
sesses every qualification to lead His people to a
triumphant end. He will lead their fight in every
conflict. He is infinitely wise, undauntedly courag¬
eous, invincibly strong and tender with both His <
soldiers and His enemies.
and His Twelve Apostles.
143
Next, I would have you notice that the Christian
soldier is to receive a glorious reward. I call to
mind the promise of Jesus to his disciples before
He left them, when He said: '' I go to prepare a
place for you." Here we learn that the Christian
soldier is to have a home, not to himself, but in a
mansion; in a mansion built by workmanship divine.
I call to mind a prayer meeting that took place
more than twenty-eight years ago and in which my
mother, that most angel of women to me, took a
part. The subject of that prayer meeting was-.
"What would you take for your hope of heaven?
I was quite a small boy then, but I remember well
the words of my mother, how she said she would
trade her hope. Her words were these: "I will
trade my hope of heaven only for heaven itself."
Oh, how inspiring those words have been to me.
She left me to live with Jesus more than fifteen
years ago, but those words are as weighty to me
as when they were first spoken. Christian soldiers,
you should be encouraged because the victory is
ours. It is ours because of the willingness of the
soldiers. It is ours because of the justice of our
cause. It is ours because Jesus, our Captain, is
both omniscient and omnipotent. I contemplate
the closing scene of the war, ,when every enemy will
be brought to the feet of Jesus, when the triumphant
song shall be the outburst of pent-up hallelujahs for
more than ten centuries and shall have one triumph¬
ant sweep across the plains of the heavenly world.
Oh, as you and I stand upon Mount Zion, all we
will be able to say to each other will be, What a
sight! What a sight! What a sight!
SUBJECT—CANAAN AND JORDAN.
Sermon Delivered by Dr. A. J. Stokes, Pastor of
First Baptist Church.
PON the conclusion of the choir's rendi¬
tion of "On Jordan's Stormy Banks I
Stand," Dr. A. J. Stokes, pastor of the
First Baptist Church, in a strong, power¬
ful and eloquent discourse, brought out
the spiritual significations of the metaphors, Canaan
and Jordan, as found in Deut. 11:31.
Prominent among the many things said by the
doctor may be found the following powerful points:
In this mighty chapter, filled with so much of the
doings and promises of God to Israel, I this morn¬
ing invite your prayerful attention to two thoughts
that are found in the 31st verse of this division.
It was to Israel:
1. We can bear pain without, when there is
space within.
2. Principles are better than precepts.
o. Greatness is not in being lifted up, but in
growing up.
4. The devil' never misses the church business
meeting.
5. The kingliest are those who are kin to the
King of Kings.
6. Only one omniscient one could discover any
Christianity in some churches.
7. The whiskey-drinking preacher can even see
God in a moan.
(145)
146
Dedicated to Jesus Christ.
A land of promise, and Jordan as the last great
difficulty through which they had to pass before
reaching Canaan. \ would have you notice, my
dear congregation and beloved friends who are
heaven-bent, and glory-determined, that Canaan is
typical of heaven and Jordan typical of death. To
Israel all thoughts filled with ecstacy and joy en¬
raptured them when they thought of Canaan, but
all the dread and gloom that could becloud their
thoughts were brought on when they thought of
having to cross the Jordan before they could enter
"Canaain.
In t.lie second place, we might notice that Canaan
was a land of promise, promised to Abraham and
his seed after him for an eternal inheritance. No
more wanderings for them, bless God. If they once
entered Canaan, the possessions wrere theirs, every
e'nemy was to be exterminated, and the records to
forever show that the land belonged to Israel. So
with us, my dear brethren; we are making slowly,
but surely, toward heaven, the Canaan of our ever¬
lasting inheritance. All of the lands and streets
of gold and gates of pearl belong to us. They are
ours by conquest. They are ours by will; they
are ours by deed; they are ours by gift. 0, my
■Saviour, sweet Jesus, darling friend of sinners,
what all did Thy death secure for us, Thy unworthy
brothers and sisters?
Might we notice next that Canaan was a land
of abundance, a land flowing with milk and honey?
It possessed an abundance of fruit and wine. It
was a pleasant land. So is heavein a land of abun¬
dance. All the riches of God's wisdom must have
been concentrated in His architectural skill when
He planned the erection of heaven. Heaven is the
metropolis of immensity, the center of the universe,
the home of Gpd, It is the oldest city in the uni-
and His Twelve Apostles.
147
verse. In describing the number of its inhabitants,
our Brother John says, while there in his vision,
that he saw a number that no man could number,
out of every nation, tongue and people. Our text
says it is a land which the Lord, your God, gives
you.
We would notice again that Canaan was to be a
holy land. God's precepts, covenants and laws
were to be strictly kept. So heaven is a holy
country, and my belief is that when sin is annihilat¬
ed by the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, only a holy
land would be congenial to our holy dispositions.
O think of our eternal home, wliere nejw beauties
and everlasting glories will be budding into eternal
foliage each hour and day. Not an unhappy soul
in all that country; not one hypocrite, not one slan¬
derer; none but the saved by God's grace shall en¬
joy these eternities. All the unhappiness, all the
tears that have been shed, all the woes that have
come to each individual through all the past years,
have been the direct result of sfyi. Sin is the adder
has bitten us all, and brought ruin and discontent
to the people of the earth. And, 0, how my soul
longs for the time when we will not only be holy
ourselves, but will live in a holy land—a sanctified
country.
We will next observe that Jordan is typical of
death, a thing which has distressed the people in
all ages. How Israel was to cross Jordan was the
great question witli Joshua; but like Jordan was
to obey God, so death will obey Him, and what the
Christian very much (h eads now will be removed
when we approach the Jordan of death. Why, dear
brethren and sisters, you will remember that under
the shadow of the ark of the covenant, and the im¬
plied command of God, the Jordan divided her
waters and Israel passed over on dry land. And
148
Dedicated to Jesus Christ.
so, my dear beloved hearers, death is not the grim
monster to the true believer that we sometimes
think he is. David said of death that, '' Though 1
walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I
will fear no evil." Here we have the beautiful les¬
son taught us that the Christian has only to pass
through the shadow of death. 0 yes, it is but the
shadow, thanks be unto God's great name; not
death, but only the shadow of death. 0, while 1
speak to you this morning upon this very important
subject of your Christian inheritance, and think
that the Jordan of death which we have so much
dreaded will bank up and let us pass over only in
the shadows of the wild flowers, my soul is lost in
the joys of the future, and the loving voice of my
Saviour comes, as such a voice can give to a poor
sinner, whispering over the hills of a dead past,
tilled with all the encouragement that such a voice
can give to a poor tempest-tossed soul, "Lo, I am
with you alway, even unto the end of the world."
"Death like a narrow sea,
Divides this heavenly land from ours,
So to the Jews old Canaan stood,
While Jordan rolled between."
And I am so vividly reminded that on the 19th
day of July, 1900, when I descended from the city
of Jerusalem., passing by the old city of Jericho,
the old infant battleground of God, the Almighty,
and Joshua, His servant, that when I was witliih
from three to four miles of the old historic river,
as it poured down from Lebanon's heights over
the rocks of the upper river, making for the eddy
place, near the old Samaritan ford, where Christ
was baptized and God spoke and the Holy Spirit
approved. This old river, when one is far away,
its roar is exciting, but it is a dear old river, and
and His Twelve Apostles.
149
there is nothing to make one afraid when once you
get near. I knelt down and kissed her waters—yes,
Lord, I was reminded that it was the water that
floated the axe for Elijah; it was the water that
struck the disease from Naaman's skin and bones,
and oh, my Lord, Great King of Zion, it was the
waters that made a dry place in itself for Israel to
pass. No dread in death as we suppose if Christ
and faith be our guide. Amen.
O, Christian family who hear me this morning,
and who may afterward read these feeble thoughts,
I want you with the lamp of faith to walk straight
up to the Jordan of death. All the roaring will
cease if Christ is with you when you approach the
banks. #
Dear Lord, brethren, you will remember, when
Israel was to cross the Jordan, the priests were to
stand firm in the water until all the people had
passed over. So Jesus Christ is standing firm in the
Jordan of death, and will remain there until every
sanctified soul, saved by His own precious blood,
shall have passed over. (Joshua 3:17.)
Thanks be unto Him who has saved us with His
everlasting salvation, that Jordan was the last
river that Israel had to cross before entering Ca¬
naan. So with the believer, death is the last river
that the believer will have to cross before entering
heaven.
Blessed be the name of the Lord, nothing shall
keep us from crossing. No contrary winds, no be¬
reavements, no sorrows shall ever come to us be¬
lievers sufficiently potent to keep us from entering
heaven. Abraham crossed this Jordan; Jacob
crossed this Jordan, and, by the help of God, we
will cross. Dear congregation, I am reminded of
the sweet anticipations which completely swallow
up the thought of death when we contemplate it.
150 Dedicated to Jesus Christ
We will see the sea of glass mingled with fire, trees
of life, amd the rainbow about the throne.
'When we've been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing His praise
Than when we first begun."
INDEX.
Preface 2
Introduction 3
A. J. Stokes 5
CHAPTER I.
The Resurrection . 7
CHAPTER II.
John's Wonderful Figurative Vision 13
CHAPTER III.
Jordan and Canaan Typical of Death and
Heaven 17
CHAPTER IV.
Young Man of Character 21
CHAPTER V.
Journeying to the Promised Land 25
CHAPTER VI.
A New Heaven and a New Earth 31
CHAPTER VII.
Heavenly Home Prepared 35
CHAPTER VIII.
All-conquering Church .. 39
CHAPTER IX.
Christian in Battle for Christ ,....43
CHAPTER X.
Ethiopian Princes Coming Out of Jigypt 49
(151)
152
INDEX.
CHAPTER XI.
Signs of God's Promise 57
CHAPTER XII.
On the Mountain of Temptation 65
CHAPTER XIII.
The Sanctity of Baptism 69
CHAPTER XIV.
A View of the Heavenly Jerusalem ...75
CHAPTER XV.
Sermon Delivered in Lebanon Hill. Near Beirut,..
Syria 79
CHAPTER XVI.
Our Pulpit 83
CHAPTER XVII.
The Who, IIoav and Why Water Baptism 91
CHAPTER XVIII.
A Wonderful Sermon 101
CHAPTER XIX.
Sermon to Knights of Tabor 107
CHAPTER XX.
Baccalaureate Sermon 113
CHAPTER XXI.
Baptism a Figure 121
CHAPTER XXII.
Essentials of Race Building 125
CHAPTER XXIII.
The Coming Lamb 133
CHAPTER XXIV.
The Christian Soldier 139
CHAPTER XXV.
Canaan and Jordan 145